Imaginary Fred by Eoin Colfer- ESSENTIAL

Colfer, Eoin. Imaginary Fred, PICTURE BOOK. Harper, 2015. $18.99. When you are lonely and conditions are just right, you can wish for a friend and an imaginary one will appear. Eventually though, you will find a non-imaginary friend and your imaginary one will slowly disappear. Fred is imaginary but he becomes real friends with Sam and they are perfect for each other. They love all of the same things and Fred dreads the day that Sam will find a new friend and he will disappear. When Sam does meet a new friend, Fred is surprised to find that this new friend has an imaginary friend of her own. The four of them begin to do everything together and as time passes they begin to pair off more and more, with the imaginary friends spending most of their time together. Fred is never alone again. I loved this book. The illustrations are fantastic and the story has so much heart. It’s a little more lengthy than the typical picture book, but the entire content is necessary and high quality. I also really liked that the story focused not only on friendship based on similarity, but on how people can be different in some ways and like the same things. EL (K-3), EL,- ESSENTIAL. Reviewed by Shay, School Librarian