Many children have imaginary friends, and sometimes we encounter such children in stories or films. We smile as they communicate with their invisible companions, who are often blamed when something untoward happens. In today's picture book story the focus, for a change, is on the imaginary friend instead of the child. On the pages meet an imaginary friend who needs one thing to make his life complete.
Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
Little Brown, 2014, 978-0-316-19998-8
Beekle was born on an island where all the world’s
imaginary friends come into being. The imaginary friends wait and look forward
to the day when a child somewhere will imagine them, and then pick them to be
their own. Beekle waits and waits, but no one imagines him and “his turn” never
comes.
Eventually, Beekle feels that he has waited long enough,
and so he decides to seek out his friend rather than waiting to be imagined.
The journey is a
long one and it is full of “many scary things,” but the hope of finding his
friend gives Beekle courage and finally he comes to the real world, which is a
very strange place. Then, while he is standing on a sidewalk in a big city,
surrounded by the legs of big people, Beekle sees an imaginary friend go by
whom he follows. Soon he is a playground full of children and their imaginary
friends, a wonderful place where surely he will find his friend. Or maybe not.
It is hard not
to fall in love with the main character in this story. His persistence and
courage is inspiring, and one cannot help feeling a deep connection with the
little, white imaginary friend who dares to do “the unimaginable.”
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