The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams

by Mindy Thompson

This moving story about a magical bookstore explores the way war can shape a family and is perfect for book lovers everywhere, especially fans of Pages & Co., Pax, and Wolf Hollow.It’s 1944 Sutton, NY, and Poppy’s family owns and runs, Rhyme and Reason, a magical bookshop that caters to people from all different places and time periods. Though her world is ravaged by World War II, customers hail from the past and the future, infusing the shop with a delightful mix of ideas and experiences. Poppy dreams of someday becoming shopkeeper like her father, though her older brother, Al, is technically next in line for the job. She knows all of the rules handed down from one generation of Bookseller to the next, especially their most important shopkeepers must never use the magic for themselves. But then Al’s best friend is killed in the war and her brother wants to use the magic of the shop to save him. With her father in the hospital suffering from a mysterious illness, the only one standing between Al and the bookstore is Poppy. Caught between her love for her brother and loyalty to her family, she knows her brother’s actions could have devastating consequences that reach far beyond the bookshop as an insidious, growing Darkness looms. This decision is bigger than Poppy ever dreamed, and the fate of the bookshops hangs in the balance.

Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Books About Books, Historical, Time Travel, Fiction

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 26, 2021

About the author

Mindy Thompson is a writer of fantastical stories for Middle Grade readers. She holds a BA in creative writing from Boise State University and previously had the privilege of working in public and middle school libraries. She currently resides in Southern Idaho.

Reviews

[Belles Middle Grade Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wowza! This book took me by surprise. SO gripping, moving, impactful, & amazing. I don’t even know what awesome thing to start with. Ok, ATMOSPHERE! 1944 New York, & this BOOK SHOP! OMG, this might be the best bookshop I’ve ever read about. Rhyme & Reason is a character in itself. I love it with my whole heart. The vivid details the author gives you, paints the most perfect vision of cozy, magical, & beautiful book goodness ever lol The magical bookshops find certain people when they need them most. People travel from all different times. The magic that makes this possible is complicated though. The bookshops keeps the “light”, but the “dark” is always trying to find a way back in. So you have the light/dark, or good vs evil. It’s very symbolic in a way too, because what makes it easier for the dark to get in, are during the darkest moments in our life.

Then there’s the real life magic of book/stories connecting people, & bringing people together. The customers of Rhyme & Reason are part of Poppy’s family, bonded to this shop & this family by something truly special. All of that’s part of the light. Then there’s the dark. I won’t say the reason the dark gets an opening, etc. But tragedy & painful things in life test us all, & we all have a choice what we do with that pain, & anger. We don’t always make the right choice, we’re human after all. So you can see all sides in this, the gray area of morality I guess. But there are just some things we should never mess with, but I can see how it would be hard if you had the chance though. Poppy is the sweetest little bean. So much comes down on her shoulders all at once, & she has to almost be an adult in a way out of nowhere. Everything that is happening would be too much for the strongest adult, but she gives it her all, & I adore her.

All the characters are terrific, & so well written. Her parents(especially her papa), her brothers, Ollie who delivers mail between the other bookshops & the council, & Theo-her friend from another bookshop & they write letters back & forth. The letters are written out in page for us to read as well, & I loved that. So great. What 1 person in here wants to do, the dark, the council, Poppy trying her hardest to run & fix everything, & then the HUGE twists at the end? EPIC & INCREDIBLE. One such twist at the end, broke my heart into a million pieces..not by just the sadness, but of the beauty & MEANING behind it. The way time & life find a way, & how everything came full circle. Things happen the way they’re supposed to happen, & imagine changing the order of time….it wouldn’t be right, so it wouldn’t FEEL right..& the negative ripples that would affect so many more things would be terrifying.

All the detailing of the shops & the backstory of them, including the light/dark, & the council were fascinating. This has terrific writing plus family, friendship, suspense, atmosphere, sibling relationships, books, fear, strength, bravery, good vs evil, war, danger, loss, light, hope, & so much more. Great messages too. That 1 climatic scene in particular towards the end, I know will stick with me for a while..as will this whole book. Definitely left an impact on me, & I will eagerly await this authors next book. HIGHLY Recommend! STUNNING cover front & back by Quang & Lien too!💜

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good one for ~10 year olds (especially girls). Lots of magic, a book shop that’s alive, and a battle of Dark vs Light. Pretty safe recommendation, especially content-wise if you’re wary about that.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS BOOK! I loved the concept of Rhyme and Reason having its own personality and the hints of magic and communication through quotes on the chalkboard! I loved Poppy, the main character, who feels so misunderstood from her peers, I wish I could have met her when I was her age. Ugh, there’s so many amazing things with this book I hope you just take my word and read it. ❤️❤️❤️

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a unique story and I don't think I've ever read anything quite like this before. I think I've read similar stories but something about this one and the way it's written is so different than anything I've heard or read before. This is both an enchanting, heartwarming tale and a heartwrenching emotional rollercoaster much like life can be sometimes when things happen.
It's about a girl, Poppy, and her family that own a magical bookstore called Rhyme and Reason. This occurs in the time frame of WWII in 1944 and so their world is gray and hard with the war going on, but the shop helps make things better with customers from the past and future stopping by bringing their fun and different stories and such. Poppy wants to be the next shopkeeper after her father because of the connection and love she has for the shop plus she's good at it, but her older brother, Al, is next in line to be the next shopkeeper. She knows all of the rules and especially the important ones like the one that shopkeepers are not to use the magic for themselves. One day they receive news about her brother's friend, Carl, who left to serve in the war that he's died and Al doesn't know how to handle the grief and feels like something's not right about it all. So Al decides he wants to use the magic from the bookshop to try to go back in time to save Carl and Poppy is the one left trying to stop him since her father is sick in the hospital.
Poppy is torn between love for her brother and knowing that they shouldn't break the rules and has to make some hard decisions about what to do. She has to learn to find herself, love herself, and have courage through it all. All the customers from the bookshop band together to help her and she learns about the strength and courage and love of family and friends too. It's definitely a rollercoaster ride especially toward the end of the story and worth the read. One of the things said in the story that I love is that "everyone has magic inside of them". This story is chock full of good quotes and sayings and teaching moments. It's an intense book dealing with somewhat weightier topics such as grief that's very well done.
I would definitely recommend putting this on your list, going to get it and read it right now. You don't want to miss this magical tale about this amazing bookshop, family, and Poppy, who finds herself and her strength and learns to be even braver than she already was.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Penguin Group Penguin Young Readers Group for letting me read and review this magical read. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful in the concept, a network of magical bookstores throughout places and times that people can find ‘when they need them.’ The family who runs one has their peaceful lives upended when a friend dies in WWII, opening the door for anger and resentment.
Aside from a strong ‘I shouldn’t tell the adults, they have enough problems’ story device, this was a delight, with enough twists to make it enjoyable. A first book from this writer, hopefully not the last.

[Sierra Dertinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh how I would die to go to Rhyme and Reason. The vivid details that the author paints of this magical bookshop makes me long for creating my own bookstore. I loved the blend of magic & literature—the walls change colors based on its mood and it writes a new quote based on its feelings and those that come in the shop. So the setting itself is so immersive. The characters are perfect for this day & age, & the fact that people travel through time to be in this magical bookstore is precious too. My heart hurt for Poppy & all the hard decisions she had to make when her brother was in despair and struggled with the Dark. Your emotions while reading will be like riding a roller coaster. The ending was hard, but also beautiful. This book reminded me of the adult fiction novel, The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner, which is one of my favorite reads of the year!

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

First sentence: The bookshop is feeling blue today. I sense it the moment my brother James and I arrive home from school. The lights are low, the ever-shifting wallpaper is a cheerless dark gray, with somber books on display--Wuthering Heights, Old Yellow, A Little Princess. The gloom sinks into my bones.

Premise/plot: The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams has an intriguing premise. It is set during the Second World War--1944 to be precise. But its main setting is a bookshop. Rhyme and Reason is one of a handful of magical bookshops. "Our shop isn't a normal bookshop, it belongs to the world of magic ones. Just like the others, Rhyme and Reason finds people from outside of our time and brings them to our door. It searches a hundred years into the future and the past to find customers who need the light and hope it can offer through books and community. Papa says bookshops are good for broken souls and wounded hearts." Poppy, our heroine, is quite a bookworm. She loves, loves, loves, loves her family's bookshop. She loves meeting all the customers--all ages of customers--from all time periods. But the shop has been acting weird, strange, out of sorts, unpredictable, moody. And Poppy feels called--in more ways than one--to try to mend the shop and set things right again. But that process is complicated. How does one *know* what the right thing to do is? There can be a subtle difference between something feeling right and being right. And sometimes doing what is right breaks your heart--shatters it. Still the fate of the bookshop may be in her hands--as incapable and unsure as she feels.

My thoughts: This book had the potential to be super-fluffy and just pure delight OR the potential to be a weighty complex read. It was certainly heavier than I imagined it might be. The premise is pure delight: a MAGICAL bookshop. Customers coming into the shop from ALL time periods. Being able to read books from other time periods. Books finding the right reader at the right time. Books connecting people together. A true sense of community between readers--no divisions or divides. Pure delight. But it goes beyond that and ventures into more familiar territory perhaps--the battle between good and evil, light and dark. The magic that makes the bookshop possible is more complex than you might think. Magic comes with a price--in the words of Rumpelstiltskin from ONCE Upon A Time. There is a showdown between light and dark in The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams. And the book has more layers than you might expect. I found myself accurately predicting a few things, but it held some twists and turns that I did not guess, would never have guessed.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 shining, glittering stars for this magical, lyrical Middlegrade!
Oh how I wish I could take a trip to Rhyme and Reason, the magical bookshop that Poppy Fulbright and her family run in 1944, war-torn New York. The magic is incredible! -- allowing customers and patrons from both the past, present, and future to find it and gain entrance. The chalkboard in the shop magically shares bookish quotes with Poppy and her family at various interludes, books find their customers (even those not yet published in 1944), the walls change colors and the décor rearranges itself based on its mood, and the lemon tree at its entrance is always bearing fruit in and out of season. The REAL magic though of the store is how it connects people and how they band together as a family, an unconventional one, but a real one at that! And Poppy doesn't know just how much she will rely on them during this next trial both in her own life and in the life of the bookshop. For, there are 2 sides to the magic. One full of LIGHT and the other, the Dark.
This will whish you away to another time and place and fully capture your imagination! Such an original plot and I loved every minute of it! Thanks to Olivia at The Bookshelf Thomasville for this enchanting recommendation!
And also, that cover is absolutely stunning and demands to be placed on a shelf with the cover out. Just saying.

[osqhe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gençlik kitabı olarak yalın dile sahip, okuması rahat, kurgusu güzel bir kitaptı. Olay örgüsü karışık olmadığı için kısa zamanda okunabilir.
Ancak hikayedeki kahramanımızın sihirli bir kitap evi olması dışında, kitap tanıtımında yazdığı kitap sevgisi aşılayan bir hikaye olarak gelmedi bana. Daha çok aile bağları ve sorumlulukların ön planda olduğu, 2. Dünya savaşında Amerika'da geçen, sevginin önemini anlatan fantastik bir hikayeydi.

[Lorelei Savaryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams is the perfect blend of whimsical magic and suspense, and I fell head and heart into the world of Poppy and her family’s magical bookshop. It left me surprised, delighted, and deeply moved from the very first page to the last.

Even when up against the worst of our fears and the sting of loss, this novel embraces the beauty of bravery and the power of hope.

[Patricia Rupell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of this book really intrigued me, and there were parts of this book I really enjoyed. But I was expecting it to be cozy, and though parts of it were, there were parts that were a lot darker than I would have liked. It did wrap up well, and the ending was satisfying.

3.5 stars rounded up.

[Melissapalmer404 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely middle grade/high school read about magical bookshops, family, books and the fight between good and evil. Poppy wants to run the bookshop while her father is ill but Al is the oldest child. But Al is struggling between using the shop's magic to go back in time and save his best friend, Carl, from dying in WWII or following the rules of the magical Council. I really enjoyed this book.

[Ingrid · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly heartwarming middle grade fantasy about grief and family. Towards the middle, I felt like it was maybe a bit too heavyhanded in the theme, but by the end I thought it was perfect. I teared up multiple times and read it under the covers hiding from my children, which I suppose is ironic because usually the roles are reversed.

[Carie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the latest book club pick for my daughter’s (4th grade) book club. The book was wonderful but it may have been a bit too much/too lengthy for our group.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This is a cute middle grade historical fiction set in a magical bookshop. I felt like the conflict between light and dark and trying to do the right thing was really thoughtful. I also loved the family relationships. What didn't work as well was how the magic worked, it could have been thought through a little better.

[Avery Sherbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It really felt like your in the world with poppy and all the other fun characters.

[Mya Doberstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. It showed different characters sides and it was about books and I love books about books!

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I *love* books about magic in bookstores (hello, Pages & Co series), and I expected this one with its adorable bookshop name "Rhyme and Reason" to be adorable and whimsical while also a bit serious due to the time period. I was disappointed overall because the book was beyond bleak throughout and the pacing didn't quite suit the story for me and while I did really love 2-3 of the main characters, a few others really didn't work for me.

It was interesting to discuss with my middle grade book club though so I appreciated that aspect of reading this - PLUS the cover is adorable (and really does not portray the story itself, in my humble opinion).

[Carly · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams” is a historical fantasy, middle grade novel about magical, time-traveling bookstores. Poppy’s family runs Rhyme & Reason in New York during the tail end of World War II.

The bookshop is one of many that has the ability to attract people from 100 years before and after its own time period to its store. It’s there for the people who need it. But the families who run these bookshops aren’t allowed to use the magic. It’s against the rules. There are RULES. The shops also have their own feelings and can change the store’s appearance at will.

Poppy’s family finds out that Carl, a dear friend of their son, Al, and the family as a whole was killed in the war. He was practically a brother to Al and as expected doesn’t take it well at all. Besides the fact that he lost his best friend, he is also going through survivor’s guilt. The military wouldn’t take him due to his asthma.

Al wants to use the shop’s magic to go back in time and save Carl from dying, but that is against the rules. He asks Poppy to help him do this. And she is stuck in between a rock and a hard place. She wants to save her friend, but she knows that doing so can have a terrible effect on the bookshops which is their whole lives.

All the while she is doing her best to keep the shop open and functioning while her father is deathly ill and something very bad seems to be happening to the store, her brother, and her customers.

Positives: This was actually really clever. It took me about 60 pages or so to get into it, but once I did, I was sold. The time-traveling bookstore concept is surprisingly well thought out (and if the author had wanted to, could have easily made this a book for adults with very little changes). There is a lot of potential to go beyond this one story if the author wants to, but it also works just find as a standalone concept. I also liked the conversations around grief and what that can do to a person and how it can change you and make you vulnerable in a way that you weren’t before.

Negatives: Sometimes the writing felt a little “first novel,” if you know what I mean. It was also a little repetitive at times. And something happens towards the end of the novel (I won’t say what it is is), where I felt that more time could have been spent on it since it was such a big deal in the book.

Warnings: Since this is a book for kids, and I I know that kids have different sensitivities and emotional levels, i feel like maybe parents should be aware of a couple of things just in case some topics might be problematic for their child and their particular anxieties. It is World War II, so war in general. But this book talks a lot about their friend dying. That is the crux of this book. Poppy’s father is on his death bed throughout. There is just a lot of anxiety and grief happening in this book. And anger. If your child can handle Harry Potter 3 and onwards, then this probably would be fine.

But overall, I think this is a really solid debut and I look forward to reading Thompson’s work in the future.

[La testa fra i libri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Le librerie sono state create per diffondere la luce, amore
e speranza nel tempo e nello spazio,
così da legare le anime degli uomini contro l’oscurità.

1° motivo La protagonista Poppy, nonché la narratrice del libro, ha una visione del mondo che si divide fra la cruda realtà dell’epoca storia – il libro è ambientato nella seconda guerra mondiale – e l’evasione dalla stessa che le storie dei libri raccontano. Ama il lieto fine, crede che i libri siano degli ottimi amici e adora la libreria di famiglia dove trascorre buona parte del suo tempo. La sua vita è molto particolare e normale allo stesso tempo e facilita una sorta di empatia in chi la legge.

2° motivo La libreria Rhyme & Reason è una libreria magica gestita dalla famiglia Fulbright, nonché custode. Coccola i familiari con torte o rampicanti nei momenti di sconforto o di saluto, fa apparire libri con le risposte che si cercano e, se un cliente appare maleducato, può arrabbiarsi facendo sfavillare le lampadine dei suoi lampadari. La libreria va protetta rispettando le regole stabilite dal Consiglio dei librai più di due generazioni fa, altrimenti verranno applicati severi castighi e la famiglia di Poppy mantiene l’equilibrio della magia.

3° motivo Nella libreria c’è un calendario che cambia avanti e indietro nel tempo e chi entra dalla sua porta appartiene all’epoca indicata su di esso. È un piccolo dettaglio ma interessante perché tutti i lunedì sera, i clienti provenienti da varie epoche, si incontrano per parlare dell’ultimo libro letto. Questo dettaglio potrebbe sembrare irrilevante ma, per la storia narrata da Poppy, è determinante.

4° motivo Il libro è rivolto a dei lettori giovani e usa un linguaggio semplice ma non basilare. Tratta argomenti seri come la morte, la malattia, l’accoglienza, il rispetto delle regole, l’amicizia e i rapporti famigliari. Tutto questo l’ho trovato non solo educativo ma anche tranquillizzante perché non perde mai l’ottimismo e la speranza.

5° motivo In questi mesi ho letto molti libri rivolti a un pubblico giovane e La libreria magica di Poppy spicca su tutti per la storia che racconta, per l’oscillazione che riesce a far percepire al lettore fra magia e realtà, per la speranza che non smette mai di esistere, per il senso profondo dell’amicizia, perché può essere letto anche da un adulto e non apparire una lettura da piccoli e, in ultimo, per le lucciole che svolazzano fra gli scaffali della libreria.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one is more surprised than I am that I absolutely loved this book, a book written for upper middle grade children. It's charm totally transcends age or sex. Poppy's family owns Rhyme and Reason, a magical bookshop which serves people who are in need of it across all timelines. Poppy is the only daughter so the bookshop will some day pass on to her older brother, Al but no one in the family has a closer relationship with the shop, a character in its own right, than Poppy does. When her father becomes seriously ill and Al begins to behave in stranger and stranger ways, it falls to Poppy and Rhyme and Reason to figure out what is going on and try to set things right. It is far more than anyone, let alone a young girl to handle. The world Thompson has created is a delight, the situations are scary, heartbreaking, and hopeful and the characters are wonderful. Reading it as an adult, of course I questioned a few things but reading it through the eyes and heart of the child within I was enthralled the whole way.

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't have prepared myself for the emotional rollercoaster that is The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams and the shocking twist that was revealed. I loved Poppy's resolve to save Rhyme and Reason and her brother from himself. I really couldn't think how it would end since every time there was a moment where things could have been saved it was denied to her.

This had such a bittersweet ending. I wish certain things would have turned out differently but this story is all about keeping a balance of light and dark. One thing that bothered me was that the mom wasn't checking in more frequently and basically left her children alone. But it made sense with her husband sick and the era to leave her eighteen-year-old son in charge of the bookshop but still...

I loved the little magic of the blue wildflowers, the lights flickering, the vines saying hello, and the quotes being changed (I now want to write a list of them down and read them). Such a great book!

[Kate Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book! I found it at the library and almost walked past it. So glad I didn’t.
This book was perfect for me. I love books about books. I love books about WW2. I love books about magic.
Now that I’m done reading it, I wish I could visit Rhyme and Reason and get a pin so I could come back. It’s a very creative plot, something I never would’ve thought of.
I also really like sad books. I have a friend who loved sad books and she brought me to that type of books. This book gets extremely sad towards the middle. Ok, extremely may be exaggerating a little, but I’m a very sensitive person. The plot with Al and Poppy’s Dad brought me to tears. It wasn’t too sad that someone should stop reading. But sad enough.
Altogether this was the most awesome book and I definitely recommend! 😁😁

[shay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg this was perfection!! I loved how from the start the book was interesting cause I need that to continue sometimes, ykwim. But the characters had such real and impactful relationships and chemistry with one another. The regulars and everyone, it made it so easy to relate and love them. Poppy is such a slay girlboss who's girlbossing her way thru. Love the shops attitude. #theoxpoppy anyway Al made me angry at the start but on the street then I was like "oh that's sad" some parts were really sad like I teared and some parts were creepy. Like the frost and the chalkboard, "the nightmare is coming..." and the titles on display freaked me out. I was reading it at the dead of night ok. Can't believe the plot twist bro wdym Al died in the war. Anyway, at least Carl is back. He's nice, lol. I love this book. Thank u for buying it for me, tree.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story! I adored reading The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams and was thrilled when Mindy asked me to blurb it. Here's the official blurb:

"The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams is a book lover's dream come true. Whimsy and magic dance together on the pages, and I longed to disappear into Rhyme and Reason and the world of magical bookstores to explore all of its beautiful corners and stories."

[Eden · Rating 5 out of 5]

2023 bk 15. I was really not sure about how to tag this title. Its basic story is set during WWII - but many of the characters come from other times and places. Time Travel would normally be a subgenre of Science Fiction - but it isn't that. It doesn't have talking animals (the Department of Ed of Indiana's requirements for a book to be fantasy) but it does have a quest. This is the classic good versus evil (light versus dark). The themes are every bit as complicated as what you would find in an adult book with mixed up family relationships, friendships, bullying, death. It is also very much a coming of age novel for a young lady to read.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic story with a classic tale. It's a tale about light vs dark, and it just makes sense that light lives in bookshops, doesn't it? I like our main character and her family, and the way the characters come together. It's a great book, especially for middle/high school bookworms who like a relatable female lead.

[EsmaK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Güzeldi.. Dört vermemin sebebi birazcık abisinin Karanlık’a kapıldığı yerlerde irkilmiş olmam. Ama yazarın hayal gücüne hayran kaldım. Bu kitapçı dükkanını ben de hayal ediyordum açmayı. Benim gibi düşünen biri varmış; Mindy Thompson

[Alex Kogay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful story of hope and loss and bravery. Poppy is a wonderful main character that grows with the book and doesn’t give up despite the twists and turns that are thrown at her.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really sweet story of family, loyalty, difficult choices and making amends.