“Every great dream begins with a dreamer.”
Harriet Tubman
Fifteen-year-old Megan Werner is such a dreamer, and what she dreams about is flying. Her favorite movie is Top Gun, and her idol: Amelia Earhart. But when Megan dreams about flying, it’s not just taking any old standard plane for a spin from a local airfield. No, like her hero Amelia, Megan wants to be fearless, push boundaries, and inspire others to do the same. Her dream is to build a light aircraft (a Sling 4) together with a group of teenagers and then fly that plane with other fellow teenage pilots from Cape Town to Cairo.
When You Dream is a fictionalized account of Megan’s journey. It’s a short YA that draws readers into Megan’s true story from the very first page. From Megan to social media wiz Agnes and co-pilot Calvin, there’s a full cast of complex characters. The chapters are short with easy-to-understand language (both in the original Afrikaans As Jy Droom and English translation). On her trek from the Cape to Cairo, seventeen-year-old Megan climbs the famous Dune 45 in Namibia, flies over a war zone, faces love, loss, and an emergency landing at a military airport in Egypt (it’s just as scary as it sounds).
What’s more to love: slow-burn romance; will probably make you cry; themes of friendship, family bonds, hope, and self-discovery.
Book: When You Dream
Published: Pan Macmillan South Africa
Pages: 136
Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
Stars: 4/5
Pan Macmillan South Africa kindly sent me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion, rating, or the content of my review.
meredithmara 