When I was a boy,

by Ian Hamilton

This illustrated story follows the memory of an old man as he reveals his past dreams, uncovering the commonality of young boys' thoughts and blurring the line between fantasy and reality. He is seen digging a hole to China, building the ultimate tree house, finding the end of the rainbow, battling a dragon to save a maiden, owning an outrageous ice cream shop, and other far-flung hijinx. As the dream-telling draws to a close, the reader sees the man surrounded by mementos of all his adventures, bringing to question whether or not those dreams came true, but leaving no doubt that the man still dreams.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Adventure, Fantasy

316 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2004

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every little and big boy should own this.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a favorite in my family. I believe there is a comparable girl's version, but I think this can be enjoyed by both boys and girls. Great take on using your imagination, and how your dreams can come true. My son always is inspired after we read this.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jake, my nephew asks that I read this to him each time I visit! Great for dreaming about future possibilities!

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids and I loved this book. My kids met the author and he was so nice and generous. My oldest loved meeting the author and having him explain the book to her, how you dream and achieve. The other kid's favorite part was the dragon part and them riding the elephant. Go Highlands Ranch!

[Jessica Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son read this to me tonight before he went to bed. It’s well written, fun to read, and the illustrations are FUN! (My favorite was the giant octopus!) highly recommend to read with your best little guys.

[Brian Maunder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't a huge fan of this story of a old man telling us of his childhood dreams, however my 9 year old daughter was captivated by it, especially the illustrations (she rated it 5 stars). Whilst reading it however, I was reminded of my own childhood, (a long time before computers) where we did many of the things this book suggests as our way of having fun (digging holes, climbing trees etc). For nostalgic reasons then, the story was nice but even though the idea was quite awesome, (that the old man was recollecting his actual past, not just telling his boyhood dreams) it wasn't clear until the last pages that this was a possibility, and the parts of fantasy (dragon/pot of gold) confused me to what direction the story was going
and if he was actually recollecting or just telling grand tall stories.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best for kids ages 2 and up
Early Literacy Skills: Print Motivation, Vocabulary, Phonological Awareness, Narrative Skills

From cover:
Is this just an ordinary old man with extraordinary tales to tell? Perhaps ... or maybe they aren't tales at all. With each page you turn, hearing of his dreams, you might just begin to wonder if they are dreams at all, or perchance tales from an amazing life still being lived by an unassuming, little man with a cane ...

Great rhyming story with wonderful vivid illustrations.

[Anastasia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has the LAMEST rhymes. The writing is simply terrible and many of the "dreams" are the standard stereotypical stuff. Not much imagination, altough some of the drawings are very detailed and interesting.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

My nephew asks me to read this book over and over. We love trying to find the mouse in each picture! Can you find the mouse?

[Donalyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

An old man shares his childhood dreams and his life experiences-- a nice premise that lacks originality in its implementation.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

a great story of an old man sharing his dreams of his child hood

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want my students to have dreams! It is challenging to have motivation in life without dreams. Dreams can be big or small. It does not matter.

[Whitney Maas · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK... now this is hard to say, but this may be a favorite, as in, it competes with some of my all time favorite children's books. Wonderful :)

[Kaley Matous · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how the book illustrated and explained the extent that an imagination can you. The rhyming definitely added a light and airy feel to the book that matched the illustrations.

[Crystal Falconer · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE this book. LOVE IT.