The Girl Who Could Not Dream

Written by Sarah Beth Durst

Narrated by Soneela Nankani

"A perfect combination of adventure, humor, and pure imagination!" -Jessica Day George, New York Times best-selling author of Tuesdays at the Castle "Funny, scary, and endlessly inventive." -Bruce Coville, author of Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher Sophie loves the hidden shop below her parents' bookstore, where dreams are secretly bought and sold. When the dream shop is robbed and her parents go missing, Sophie must unravel the truth to save them. Together with her best friend-a wisecracking and fanatically loyal monster named Monster-she must decide whom to trust with her family's carefully guarded secrets. Who will help them, and who will betray them?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781501901935

Sarah Beth Durst

Sarah Beth Durst is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Spellshop, as well as over twenty-five fantasy books for adults, teens, and kids, including the Queens of Renthia series, Drink Slay Love, and Spark. She has won an American Library Association Alex Award and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for the Andre Norton Nebula Award three times. She lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband, her children, and her ill-mannered cat.

Reviews for The Girl Who Could Not Dream

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this story. Sophie is a twelve-year-old girl who lives with her parents in their used book store which would be cool enough on its own. But down in the hidden basement her parents distill and sell dreams. Sophie loves to watch the dreams because, unlike most people, Sophie can not dream. When she was six, she drank one of the bottles of distilled dream and, when she woke up, she brought the monster she dreamed about to the real world.Sophie and Monster have been best friends for six years. In fact, Monster is Sophie's only friend. She doesn't feel that she has anything in common with the other kids at her middle school. She does have a relationship with fellow middle schooler Madison who is plagued by nightmares. Sophie gives her dreamcatchers to trap the nightmares. They secretly meet to exchange them. She also supplies a little girl from the elementary school across the street with dreamcatchers too. Sophie has her eye on the new boy at school. He is popular and athletic but Sophie sees something in his eyes that tells her that he also has nightmares. She tries to find a way to get him to take a dreamcatcher too. Sophie's family uses the dreamcatchers to make new bottled dreams to sell. After getting the first dreamcatcher back from Ethan and fending off a monster who is trying to capture him, Sophie brings him home to the book store to find that her parents and the equipment they use to distill dreams have disappeared. Sophie blames a recent customer - Mr. Nightmare - for their disappearance. She and Ethan, who is determined to be Sophie's friend, need to find her parents. They track down Mr. Nightmare but it takes more dreaming and more magical creatures - including some multi-colored ninja bunnies - before we get to a happy ending. This was a great story about friendships both old and new and an exciting adventure too.I can't wait to add this story to my middle grade media center.

[Heidi Marcum Tickal · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My wife and kids loved the book, which they listened to during car rides, so I listened to it, too. Loved it! Fun book for the whole family!

[craig smith · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely awesome monster is the best!!!!
This was absolutely awesome!!!!

[Kristen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was amazing! And I loved every minute of it!

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not sure why I didn't love this. It's got originality, appealing characters, and plenty of heart. It's coherent, exciting, funny, and well-written. The kid is not an orphan, in fact is beloved by a loving couple with a sense of humor and with a reasonable amount of courage and competence. Maybe it's just that it has too much focus on adventure *for me* and is too ready to be made into a movie *for me*.

I think it would be perfect for most kids in its intended audience. I do recommend it to you, if you're already interested. And I will look for more by the author.

It did give me something to think about regarding bad books. "Each one holds people and worlds. Each one is a piece of someone's heart and mind that they chose to share. They were shared dreams."

(Now, that doesn't mean that everybody's baby is worth reading. Or that every 'classic' that I read only to discover that it's unbearably misogynist and racist is worth my attention. But it's something to think about, at least.)

[fionaanne · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't know who picked the coverart but they ought to be fired. It looks like it belongs on an infantile picture book about a middle-aged woman with a purse, her surly teenage offspring and a furry, streamer-wearing chinese dragon. I had a grear deal of difficulty taking this book seriously as a result.

That being said, this book got better as it went along and by the end, was pretty awesome. Monster is a totally charming character and so wonderfully drawn that all the other characters seem flat and lifeless (like watching Ellen Page on Trailer Park Boys, it's very discordant.) The plot was innovative with plenty of twists and the pacing fairly even once the action started. Overall, a good read. If you can get past the cover.

Many thanks the Houghton Mifflin for the ARC.

[bucketofrhymes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thanks to Goodreads and the publisher for a free copy of The Girl Who Could Not Dream!

Probably the most accurate review I could give of this book would consist of me shoving a copy at you while babbling somewhat incoherent variations on "READ THIS NOW."

But since that is probably an unhelpful review, I will try to restrain myself.

The Girl Who Could Not Dream follows Sophie, whose parents own a book and dream shop. They harvest dreams from dreamcatchers, distill them into liquid form, and then sell them. Drink one of those dreams, and you experience it for yourself. When her parents vanish, she teams up with some new friends (and an old friend -- a monster named Monster who she brought to life from someone's dream) to get them back.

And that premise? Is awesome. If I had this book when I was eleven, it would have terrified and enthralled me in equal measure.

And the characters? Are even better.

First, you have the main character, Sophie. Close to the beginning of the book, her parents threaten to take away her book privileges, and that was the moment that I knew we'd get along swimmingly. She's socially awkward and feels like a fish out of water. Her best friend/guardian/weird pet is Monster, who is just so darn loveable... Think Khoshekh from Night Vale, but more friendly and speaking like a professor. There's Ethan, who is adorable, and steady, and brave.

And, of course, because this is a book about dreams, you have a whole host of dream creatures. Some of them are terrifying, some of them are almost over-the-top ridiculous (disco ball pony, anyone?), but Durst makes it work. She never pushes things too far.

One complaint: I wish the book had gotten into the history of dreamcatchers as something the Ojibwe people created. I think the book hinted at this (especially through the presence of the spider woman and her role in protecting the main characters) but I wish it had been more obvious.

But overall? The Girl Who Could Not Dream is one heck of a ride, and I was sorry to see it end. If you like middle grade fantasy books, you should read it. Now.

[eduscapes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

THE GIRL WHO COULD NOT DREAM by Sarah Beth Durst is an engaging fantasy for intermediate readers. The audio version of this story keeps listeners engaged from beginning to end. The secret business hidden in the bookstore adds to the appeal of this fast-paced fantasy adventure.

[heatherlinc · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a delightful, richly imaginative fantasy novel for middle-aged primary school students. Filled with flying ponies, black furry monsters, pink ninja bunnies, rainbows, cupcakes, dream catches and more. Sophie was an excellent character - intelligent, lonely and awkward, which many pre-teen girls could relate to. However, my favourite character was her very cute, furry, pet monster, Monster. He was gorgeous - zany, loyal and fiercely protective of Sophie.

I was surprised how creepy this book was at times, considering the target audience. However, The Girl Who Could Not Dream was a fun, heart-warming read with lots of adventure, suspense and magic, which will keep readers engrossed to the very end.

[kaethe_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dreams are weird, but how much weirder would it be not to dream? Ever? Something bad has happened, and now Sophie has to try to rescue her parents and make everything right again with the help of a snarky little monster and the first friends she's ever made.


Fun, a little creepy without being too creepy, a strong adventure story. With an absolutely fabulous monster. An excellent choice for fans of Monsters, Inc.


Library copy

[vivirielle-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The voice on the recording was a little grating for me, but the story is fun and engaging. I would recommend this to anyone. I think the idea is fun and unique, and the way it explores friendship is appealing to people of all ages. I loved Sophie and felt like we were a lot alike.

[imtanner2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my new favorite book. It's about a girl named Sophie who lives with her parents and she can't dream. Her parents run a bookstore but in the back, they also sell dreams. They have perfected a way of capturing dreams and Sophie helps them by giving kids dream catchers and bringing them back to her parents. When Sophie is 6, she decides she wants to dream and takes a monster dream from the store and dreams it. The monster comes to life and becomes her best friend. When Sophie is 12, a mysterious stranger comes to the store and sets in motion a terrible plan. Sophie must rescue her parents and save everyone. This story is adventurous and SO very funny. I LOVED it.

[neftzger · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A highly imaginative look at dreams, the importance of childhood friends, and learning to deal with fear. Although Sophie in unable to dream on her own, when she ingests the dreams of others the things int eh dream become real. This is a great way to explore the line between reality and dreams and the importance of each. Durst write some great characters, including a lovable monster, a vain Unicorn/ Pegasus, and a sinister villain called "Mr. Nightmare."

The story moves at a good pace and takes the reader on a few unexpected twists and turns. One of the best children's fantasy books that I've read this year.

Note: I was given a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.