The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend

Wed, 01/28/2015 - 10:07am by PizzaPuppy

Every so often, you find a book that is so brilliant that you can't help but immediately pass it on. When I first read The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, I knew that I had found something special.

In the story, we meet little Beekle: an imaginary friend. In Beekle's world, all imaginary friends are born on a far away island where they wait to be imagined by a real child. One by one, all of his fellow imaginary friends are chosen by their child-- except Beekle. He waits and waits for his perfect partner, dreaming of all the fun activities they will do together... but no one comes for him. One day, tired of being the only little friend left on the island, Beekle does the unimaginable: he sets out in search of his new perfect partner on his own! Beekle travels to the real world where he experiences a bit of culture shock: the big city is nothing like the imaginary island he left behind. Beekle faces many challenges and set backs, all with the hope that he will one day find his new best friend.

What really stood out the first time I read this story were the beautiful and vibrant illustrations. These brightly-colored and delightful illustrations perfectly tell the story of Beekle's struggle to find his new best friend, and includes many small details within the bigger picture. Beekle's journey emphasizes going after what you want, being brave and taking risks. This is a heart-warming story about finding love and happiness. For other fun stories written or illustrated by Dan Santat, check out The Guild of Geniuses, The Three Ninja Pigs, and Oh No! or How My Science Project Destroyed the World