I absolutely loved The Dreaming Gourd. It is such a cozy, whimsical story with a beautiful message underneath it.

I loved Victoria Mowrer’s imaginative take on helping planet Earth find its joy again. Each of the stars discovers a special way to contribute, and I loved watching those individual gifts eventually come together to help restore Earth and bring the spark back to the Big Dipper.

The Dreamer was my favorite character. One line especially stayed with me: “Your power comes from within you, and these drums will help you claim it.”

There is something beautiful about the Dreamer trusting something deeper within herself and helping another character recognize that power within themselves too.

And then there are the seeds.

I loved the idea of the seeds helping recreate the heavens and the Earth because it made me think about the seeds we plant in our own lives. We plant something small, dream about what it might become, nurture it, and sometimes discover possibilities we couldn’t have imagined when we first planted it.

That made the dreaming gourd itself feel even more meaningful to me.

I even walked away learning that gourds can have so many different uses, which added another lovely layer to the experience.

And the illustrations are wonderful. Victoria Mowrer did such an amazing job bringing the story to life visually. They aren’t simply decoration around the story. They feel like part of the world we’re being invited into.

But perhaps one of my favorite thoughts comes at the very end, when the story reminds us that an ending can also be a beginning.

That feels so fitting.

Because The Dreaming Gourd ultimately left me with hope.

Hope that we can restore things.
Hope that our individual gifts matter.
Hope that our dreams matter.
Hope that something new can grow from the seeds we plant today.

It’s a fun and cozy way to explore our responsibility to the world around us without losing the wonder, imagination, and whimsy that make the story so enjoyable.

And, of course, I couldn’t turn off my Story Connector brain while reading it. I genuinely believe The Dreaming Gourd could become a beautiful Spanish Edition and cross-cultural asset. The themes of community, caring for our world, joy, inner wisdom, contribution, dreaming, and possibility give this story so much to explore as it enters another language and cultural home.

It’s cozy. It’s whimsical. It’s hopeful. And perhaps most importantly, it leaves us dreaming about all the possibilities still waiting to be planted.

I really loved this little book.

Maria Borden – The Story Connector

Bilingual Savvy Story Connector Studio LLC