Author: Eoin Colfer
Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers
Publisher: Harper, 2015 (Originally published in the UK by HarperCollins)
Ages: 4-8
Themes: friendship, imaginary friends, loneliness
Opening: Headaches are a pain. A bee sting hurts even more. But there’s one thing that’s worse than getting stung on the3 head by a bee on a rainy day, and that is…loneliness.
Summary: (from my library catalog)Fred is the best imaginary friend you could ever hope for, but no matter how hard he tries, the same thing always happens: his friend finds a friend in the real world, and Fred fades away, bit by bit, waiting to be wished for again… Then one day, a boy named Sam wishes for a friend, and Fred appears! For a while everything is perfect. But what about the day when Sam finds a real friend? Could it be that this time, something magical might happen…?.
I like this book because: though I usually get turned off the moment I see longer text in a picture book, I read on this time and was glad I did. It’s a story describing an imaginary friendship and how it comes about, but it gets to the heart of what friendship means, in spite of our imagination! Ach, and there’s Jeffers’ light touch and simplicity – can’t be beat. Nope. And right now, I know I’d be a driveling mess without mine.
Resources/activities: design your own imaginary friend; watch the book trailer HERE
For existing PPBF selections including resources and activities, go to Susanna Hill’s blog: HERE