Reading, a journey without limits

Dream reader

Tanya Tynjälä
Illustrations: Christian Ayuni Bogotá:
Educactiva, Norma, Yellow Tower
collection, 156 p. 2012.
ISBN: 978-958-00-1685-4

The author and the work

Tanya Tynjälä is a Peruvian writer of fantasy and science fiction literature. Born
in Callao in 1963. She is married to Finnish engineer Tommi Tynjälä. She is
currently a professor at the Helsinki University of Technology, a job she
combines with journalism and translation. He is a member of the Helsinki
Writers' Association, the Finnish Science Fiction Writers' Association and the
Canadian Association of Hispanists. In 2007, he won first prize for the hyper-
short theatrical monologue in the international microfiction competition “Garzón
Céspedes” and was a finalist in the 5th International Competition for Fantastic
Mini Stories.
Christian Ayuni was a passionate reader of mythology and science fiction since
he was a child. He studied graphic design and began his career in publishing as
an illustrator of books by important authors of children's literature, such as Anna
Lavatelli, Jorge Eslava, Hernán Garrido Lecca, Javier Arévalo, among others. In
recent years he has published and illustrated his own stories. These include
Annie Sees Dragons, about a girl who must deal with mythological creatures
that have “come out” of her favorite book, and Farm Odyssey, which tells the
adventures of a sheep, a hen, and a duck in fantastical places.

Dream Reader: Chloé is a shy teenager who loves to write, but hasn't found her
own style yet. Her parents love her very much, but they don't fully understand
her. The arrival of an experienced novelist into his life will change his story. She
will show him that books, like dreams, are born from fantasy, from the freedom
to imagine, from dreams. Chloé, determined to learn everything she can from
her mentor, will solve some of the mysteries of literary creation through the
method that the writer teaches her. Thus, you will discover that each story is its
own universe in which anything can happen.

Exploration and motivation

Before beginning to read this book, invite students to do the following activities
and projects that will help them better appreciate the story they will read.

1. Why write?
• Discuss with your students the reasons that may lead a writer to create
stories. Listen carefully and then ask them: Why do you think writers decide
one day to tell stories? Is it a necessity, a vocation, a profession? Which
writers do you admire? How difficult do you imagine it is to create a story?
What do you feel when you finish reading a story or a poem? Would you be
willing to create a story or novel?
• Please review the following links:
http:// Porqueeremos.blogspot.com/ and
http://elpais.com/diario/2011/01/02/eps/1293953215_850215.html.
In these links you will find reflections on the craft of writing such as these:
“I should say that I write because I don't know how to do anything else, but I'll
try a deeper answer: I think that reality doesn't make any sense. Things happen
around you in an erratic, often contradictory way, and one day you die. The
things you believed in stop being true from one moment to the next. Novels, on
the other hand, have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The characters are
headed somewhere - glory, self-destruction, or nothing - and their actions have
consequences along the way. “I write stories to invent something that makes
sense.”
Santiago Roncagliolo (Peru).

“I write because I can't stop the constant whirlwind of images that cross my
head, and some of these images move me so much that I feel the compelling
need to share them. I write to have something to think about when, in the dark
solitude of a half-sleep, at night, in bed, before going to sleep, fears and
anxieties assail me. I write because while I do so I am so full of life that my
death does not exist: while I write, I am untouchable and eternal. And, above
all, I write to try to give Evil and pain a meaning that I know they do not actually
have.”
Rosa Montero (Spain).

“I would prefer to formulate the question like this: Why do we write? Long ago,
when I was young, I heard Samuel Beckett answer: “I have no other choice.”
The possible answers are all plausible but with a question mark. Do we write
because we fear death? Because we are afraid of living, because we are
nostalgic for our childhood, because time has passed quickly or because we
want to stop it? Do we write because we feel nostalgia, regret, due to longing?
Why would we have wanted to do something and didn't do it or why shouldn't
we have done something that we did? Why are we here and why do we want to
be there and if we were there would it have been better for us to stay here? As
Baudelaire said, life is a hospital where every patient wants to change beds.
One person thinks that he would heal faster if he were by the window, and
another thinks that he would be better off by the heater.”
Antonio Tabucchi (Italy)

Yellow Tower
 • Encourage students to read the two links
above and select the answers that stood out to
them the most. Then, orally support why you
chose them.

2. Creating stories about dreams

Ask students to look carefully at the image on the cover. Then ask them these
questions: Who could this girl be? How old will he be? What is he doing? What will
he dream of? What does his face tell us?
Encourage them to create a collective story, using the accordion
technique, in which this girl is the protagonist. To do this, ask them to
answer the following questions: Who is it? Where is it located? What are
you doing there? Why does he do what he does? What are you thinking
about? Will your dreams come true? Tell them that their answers can be of
all kinds.
Explain that creating a story requires us to free our imagination, to let the
character lead us through his own story. Tell them that this topic is related
to the book.
Reveal the author's name and invite students to formulate hypotheses
about why they think this writer is interested in writing about the creative
process of a narrator.
• Complement students’ ideas with biographical information about the
author.
• Encourage students to write their own version of the collective story
created. You can accompany them with a personal drawing and display
them in the classroom.

3. What can we write about?

• Talk to your students about the last book they read and ask them to tell you
what it was about. Ask if they liked what they read completely or if they
would have liked some aspect of the story to be different.
 You can also pose the following exercise: If you were writers,
what would you write about? Create an environment of trust for the majority to
participate and express their opinions. Make a list on the board with the answers
they give you. Then, select the topic or object that one might think nothing would be
created about and invite them to spontaneously create a story. A student starts the
story and when appropriate, says the name of another classmate
to continue. The process continues until the creation is complete.
Explain to them that you can write about any topic and that objects
can be “triggers” for the imagination. For example, mention that
Chloé, the main character in Dream Reader, will write down the
stories that objects tell her. Also tell them that when it comes to
writing, there are no limits and that they should trust themselves.

Reading… Dream Reader

Chloé manages to write stories in her own style while immersing
herself in the world of literary creation and in the process of
developing herself as a future writer. This story contradicts the idea
that “being realistic” is the best and confirms that imagination and
art are good ways to deal with all kinds of situations. To help you
appreciate this dimension, we suggest some activities while
reading.

1. Let's identify the key moments in history

• Go to page 20 and discuss with them the following topics: Who
is Chloé? What are your parents like? Who is AO? What is the
method that A. taught you? EITHER.? What has struck you
most about the story so far?
• Ask your students to turn to page 30 and comment on what
they thought of the story they read. Focus, for example, on the
characteristics of the story, its episodic structure, the
development of the protagonist, and his relationship with older
characters. Then ask them to relate what they read to similar
stories.

Yellow Tower
 • Read page 46 with them and ask them to discuss whether they have ever felt
like their peers didn't understand them, like Chloé, and what they did or would
do in such cases. Reflect with them on how they should handle rejection
situations.
• Invite them to identify other key moments in history. Stop, for example, on
page 55, when Chloé meets her new friends; on page 86, when her parents
understand that imagination is not bad; on page 108, when Chloé's and JP's
work is accepted for publication.

2. Let's recognize what there is of us in the characters

• Invite your students to select the characters that caught their attention the
most (at least two) and create a creative character sheet for their character.
This should include a drawing or image of how you imagine it, the information
you know about it, a physical description and a psychological description.
Once you have your cards ready, you can get into groups of three to share
your portraits.
• Invite them to discuss the following questions: Why did they choose those
characters? What caught your attention the most? Do you feel that these
characters resemble you? In what aspects?
• Let me take this opportunity to clarify that when one reads a fiction book, one
usually identifies with a character, either by similarity or by opposition. This is
because literature offers us not only good stories, but also ways of
representing and understanding the world. For this reason, many times, our
taste responds to our ability to read the stories of our own lives in those
“mirrors.”

3. The “muses”
• Organize a plenary session with your students on the role of “muses” in the
creative process of writers.
• Start by telling them that, although their most remote origin has not been
established, in Greek mythology they are generally considered daughters of
Zeus and Mnemosyne, memory. At the feasts of the gods, the muses sang,
and Apollo accompanied them playing the zither. It is said that they came
down to earth and sought out men, whose inspiration they encouraged.
These privileged men could sometimes hear them and took their voices as
their own ideas and thoughts, which they themselves were sometimes the first
to be surprised by.
• Then, invite them to investigate: How many muses existed? Who was the
“muse” of the great writers? What does it depend on today for a “muse” to
visit us?
Talking and writing about Dream Reader
• Invite students to select an object that they know little about.
It can be one from the classroom or from your home.
• Ask them to apply the creation technique that A. EITHER. taught Chloé to
spend the day with one of the objects and put it under her pillow. Then, tell
them to write a story about that object. The following questions may help:
Who do you think the object belonged to? What could it have been used for?
What could that object have witnessed? Has it ever been important to
anyone?
• Invite two volunteers to share their stories with the class. After the
participation, congratulate the writers and encourage everyone to write for
different purposes: to invent stories, to reflect on their actions, to accompany
themselves, to set goals, etc.
• Reflect with students about the creative process of the writer and every artist.
Tell them that each person can develop their own creation strategy.
• Ask if anyone likes art, creation. For those who answer yes, invite them to
share with their classmates if they have any special strategies for doing so.
• You can also share with them some creative techniques that were mainly
used by avant-garde writers. For example, you can explain the surrealist
poets' technique known as "exquisite corpse," whereby poets would take
turns writing a verse on a sheet of paper, then fold it over to cover the last
thing someone wrote, then pass the sheet to the next person to add a new
phrase.

Towe Yellow
r
Collective construction
We can all be writers
This story shows us, among other things, that we can all write creatively if we
want to and if we are willing to work hard for it. We can also discover in this
story that art and literature can be means to face difficult situations. To help
appreciate these aspects, invite readers to develop the following activity.
• In groups of four students, ask them to create an anthology of their own
creations. Tell them to review the stories they have created so far and
select the ones they want to include in it. You can also create others.
Suggest that they complement their work with drawings and prepare a
cover.
• Invite them to share their anthology with other groups. Then, tell them that
they must give a booklet with a congratulation to the group where they
highlight what they liked the most. Make sure that messages are made
with respect and constructive meaning.
• Finally, congratulate your students for their work and remember that
literature, whether as readers or writers, is an interesting path that allows
our imagination to continue developing.

Internet Links
• The author's biography can be found at the following link:
http://biosdelosblogsh.blogspot.com/2012/04/tanya-tynjala.html. You can
also check out an interview with the writer at this address:
http://perinquiets. com/2013/10/narrative-must-have-a-poetic-dimension/
• The writer's official website is here: https://www.face-book.
com/pages/Tanya-Tynj%C3%A4l%C3%A4-P%C3%A1official-gina/
169246349843821
• Material for developing creative writing can be found at the following link:
http://www3.gobiernodecanarias.org/medusa/ ecoblog/ esuasan/material-
para-trabajar-la-escritura-creativa/. There you can download files and
other materials.
• Another interesting page on the subject: http://xn--pequeosescrito- res-
jxb.es/.

Related Topics and Readings

• Remind students that this book tells the story of a girl who wants more
than anything to write. Please comment on whether it seems strange to
you that the vocation of writer arises so early.
• Share with them the following article: https://www.revistaarcadia.
com/books/article/famous-writers-before-25/42865/
• Talk to them about the writers featured in the article and about others they
know who began writing at an early age.
Yellow Tower
Relationship with other knowledge
Math
Reading or television?
Ask your class who likes to read and how much time they spend reading. Tell
them that nowadays, not only television is competing for reading, but also video
games, chatting and other activities. Encourage them to form groups of five
students and create questions for a questionnaire that they will administer to
their elementary school classmates. Once you have the questions, in plenary
session define which questions will be incorporated into the final questionnaire.
Then, invite them to organize themselves so that each group is in charge of one
or two classrooms. Finally, create statistical graphs with the results obtained
and interpretive legends about the time spent reading at that level.

Social Sciences
Women and writing.
Ask students what they know about the first Colombian female writers. Write
your answers on the board. I told them that in the beginning there were not
many women writing fiction or journalism in our country. However, in the first
decades of the 20th century, several women began to stand out in this field,
such as Helena Araujo, author of La M de las moscas.
Then encourage them to research women and writing in Colombia. The aspects
that must be taken into account are the historical-social context, the most
representative works of the selected writers and their influence on Colombian
literature. Then, help them prepare a group presentation to share their
research. It can be done during the month of March, as part of the celebrations
for International Women's Day.

Values and coexistence

The undervaluation of Literature.
Start a discussion with your students, starting with the following questions: Do
you think that Literature is valued by most people today? What do you think is
the reason for this assessment? Why should people read? How does literature
influence people's lives? Should parents be concerned about their children
reading? Is it bad to just read? Based on what has been discussed, ask them to
create posters with personal messages to motivate reading different texts and
about the importance of reading in daily life in the educational community.
Reading comprehension test
Dream reader
Name:

Literal reading

1. Use arrows to match the objects with their corresponding passages.

She prided herself on being a cautious woman, one

of those who
never let herself be carried away by impulses.

There are only ten, go to the bus stop and feel free to
get on
any of them. The driver will tell you where to stop.

Sometimes, when I look at the floor, I think I

see
a bulge and panic takes hold of me.

2. Remember and
answer.

to. How did Chloé get close to AO?

b. What do Chloé's parents initially think of the writer A. EITHER?

c. What first advice did A. give you? EITHER. to Chloé about writing and
how the little writer took it?

d. What changes occurred in the protagonist as a result of her friendship

with AO?

Yellow Tower
 5. Write true (T) or false (F), as appropriate.

a. The photo of the pale young woman inspired Chloé to write

The author and the work...........................................................................................................1
Exploration and motivation......................................................................................................2
Yellow Tower..............................................................................................................................3
Yellow Tower..............................................................................................................................5
Talking and writing about Dream Reader................................................................................7
Tower...........................................................................................................................................7
Yellow..........................................................................................................................................7
Collective construction.............................................................................................................8
We can all be writers............................................................................................................8
Internet Links........................................................................................................................8
Related Topics and Readings...................................................................................................8
Yellow Tower..............................................................................................................................9
Relationship with other knowledge........................................................................................10
Math.......................................................................................................................................10
Social Sciences.......................................................................................................................10
Values and coexistence..........................................................................................................10
Reading comprehension test...................................................................................................11
Dream reader......................................................................................................................11
Literal reading.....................................................................................................................11
Yellow Tower............................................................................................................................11
Inferential reading...............................................................................................................12
Critical reading...................................................................................................................14
b.

4. Order the following objects according to how they appeared in the story.

( ) Baby slippers
( ) Wooden stick
( ) Porcelain baby
( ) A rare keychain
( ) Agenda

Inferential reading
5. Analyze and answer.
a. Why do you think A. EITHER. agreed to help Chloé begin the process of
becoming a writer?
b. Explain why you think Chloé's parents ultimately accepted A's friendship.
EITHER. and her daughter.
Critical reading
6. Write a brief reflection on the friendship between Chloé, JP, Patricia,
Ariana, Chip and Dale. What do you think about the way they related?

7. Create a Decalogue of Friendship. Take into account the book you

have read and your personal experience.

8. Give your opinion. Do you agree with A. EITHER. when he argues that interesting things happen
to all of us, but sometimes we are too busy to see them. Justify your answer and provide an
example that is not mentioned in the book.

Author of the guide: Jessica Rodriguez Lopez

Rule