When We Got Lost in Dreamland

Ross Welford's When We Got Lost in Dreamland is a big, twisty adventure for 11 year olds about two brothers who find a way to share their dreams.

What happens

Malky lives in Tynemouth with his mam and his little brother Seb. Seb is seven, has three front teeth missing and is, according to Malky, the most annoying person alive. Malky has seriously wondered whether you can divorce your little brother.

The book opens in the middle of a dream. The brothers are in the Stone Age, sprinting across a plain towards a lake made of school gravy, with woolly mammoths munching birthday cake down on the shore. It's funny and very weird. Then the dream stops doing what it's told. And when Malky wakes up, Seb doesn't.

After that, Malky takes you back to how it all began. Kez Becker, the strangest kid in school, has taken his phone and won't give it back until he steals something from a stranger's backyard. He grabs a paper bag from a shed, gets chased by an enormous old dog and ends up bleeding in the garden of a girl called Susan and her grandmother. Whatever's in that bag is about to change everything.

Malky is great company. He talks straight to you ("Just don't start being all judgy with me") and owns up to the stuff he's not proud of. You'll laugh at him on one page and really feel for him on the next.

There are a few things to be ready for. From the first chapter your reader knows that nothing Malky does can wake Seb, and Malky blames himself. The dreams can turn frightening too. Men in furs set dogs on the boys, and one has a swastika tattoo. Malky even lists Adolf Hitler among the bad things still to come. In real life, he accidentally traps the old dog's paw in a door, and his mam and dad have split up.

For a sensitive reader who'd worry about a brother or sister getting hurt, that opening could be hard going. For one who loves a story that makes them laugh and then properly worry, it's brilliant.

What to read next

If they want more of Ross Welford's impossible ideas, try What Not to Do if You Turn Invisible. Ethel lies down on an old sunbed in the garage to sort out her spots, and wakes up to find she can't see her own hands.