*Dream Meadow (1994)

*Dream Meadow by Helen V. Griffith (1994) caught me by surprise. This is a sweet story about old age and death. The cover art is a dream; actually it’s also a memory. Nancy Barnet’s pictures (are they watercolor or colored pencil, I wonder) provide an appropriate softness to accompany this romanticized vision of dying. I like this book very much. At the beginning of the story, an old woman sits in a rocking chair. An old dog lays beside the chair. Occasionally, the old woman and dog wake up and greet one another. But mostly they sleep and dream of younger days. Strictly speaking, I don’t see how this dog could be the same dog as the one in the old woman’s youth, but who cares about this detail when the story is so good. Jane dreams of running in a meadow with green grass, yellow flowers, and orange butterflies. Frisky dreams the same dream. Together their dreams merge into a happy ending.