First a Dream is a book about love, the dream of love, and the struggle to come of age. It creates two attractive role models in Retta and Dallas. Retta Caldwell is almost seventeen, a winsome heroine who exhibits few of the negative traits associated with rebellious teen-agers. She is responsible and trustworthy, has a loving relationship with her family, is unusually sensitive toward the feelings of others, and possesses a strong moral code. She cheerfully helps her mother with household chores in order that Mrs. Caldwell may have time for her own activities. When her father criticizes an article she has written for the family newspaper, Retta is neither defensive nor affronted, but accepts his remarks with good humor.

When she sits near an elderly woman at the shopping mall, she intuitively recognizes that the woman is lonely 3170 First a Dream and impoverished...