Synopsis

Morales describes crossing a "bridge to the other side" at which point she and
Kelly became immigrants. She describes the difficult transition period in which she
was surrounded by an unfamiliar language and has trouble assimilating, which she
referred to as making "mistakes." During this time she and Kelly discover a local
library, where they learned the language and books became their "life."
Main characters

Yuyi Morales is narrator and describes her experiences in first person. She
references her son Kelly in both written and illustrated detail.
Background
Significance of the Title

"Dreamers" is known as an executive order on immigration, but is explained by

Morales as being less political and more descriptive of her and her son: "Kelly and
I were Dreamers in the sense that all immigrants, regardless of our status, are
Dreamers: we enter a new country carried by hopes and dreams, and carrying our own
special gifts, to build a better future."

It was actually Morales' editor, Neal Porter, who suggested the title. Morales
herself was hesitant, stating:

"I didn’t want to say that we are all dreamers because that weakens the fight for
the Dreamers’ movement. At the same time, I wanted to signal that making the
journey of leaving your country, all of the risk, all of the changes that you have
to encounter in a new country, is the result of how we dream for a better future.
We are dreamers because we come here hoping to do something better for ourselves
and our children."
Immigration

Dreamers was in response to the political climate surrounding immigration to the

United States. As Morales explained in the end pages of her book:

"How could children relate to my experience as an adult? Charlotte, my agent, had

been insisting this was the time; it is right now, she insisted, when anybody who
is an immigrant should be telling their story. Elections had happened, and the USA
had elected a man who ran his campaign over the backs of immigrants, calling them
words meant to take away their humanity. Neal, my editor, said, "We need your story
now, Yuyi." But I was unsure that I could come up with the right words, in a story
for children, to counteract the prejudice, discrimination, and hate exuding in the
country."
End pages

After the book finishes, Morales takes an opportunity to repeat the story in a
personal narrative form, expanding on the details of the broader plot she just
finished presenting. She clarifies that that bridge connected Ciudad Juarez,
Mexico, to El Paso, Texas, and they crossed when Kelly was two months old. She
explains her reasoning for her migration, which was to marry her son's father and
allow her son to meet her ill grandfather. Her mother-in-law introduced Morales and
Kelly to the library where she relied on illustrations to convey they meaning of
books. Morales and Kelly frequented the Western Addition Branch, Richmond Branch,
Presidio Branch, Mission Branch, and the San Francisco Main Library.
Reception

In a review for Teaching for Change's Social Justice Books website, Debbie Reese
wrote that the book "is a celebration of what migrantes bring with them when they
leave their homes. It's a story about family. And it's a story to remind us that we
are all dreamers, bringing our own gifts wherever we roam. Beautiful and powerful
at any time but given particular urgency as the status of our own Dreamers becomes
uncertain, this is a story that is both topical and timeless".