Real to Me

"When you have a great friend," Lê (The Blur) begins, "the rest of the world can seem to disappear." In digitally created spreads, Figueroa (We Wait for the Sun) imagines a Black child in a purple dress perched atop the head of a green, furry creature whose wide-eyed expression signals pleased anticipation. The two seem to launch a small, light airship that whizzes off into the air. "Others tried to tell me that she wasn't real, that she was just imaginary," musing lines continue, as the duo dash across a bridge in the moonlight, firework-like blooms glowing beneath them. "But what did they know?... My friend was always there for me, and I can't image anything more real than that." Following pages of adventures, the friend disappears one morning. The book's narrator grieves--whether or not the friendship was present for others, the bond and loss are real--until healing begins and new friends appear. To Lê's simply told, heartfelt reflection on childhood bonds, Figueroa adds two rich, unexpected dimensions: a dramatic, luminous visual universe, and a narrative twist likely to tweak readers' initial assumptions about the imaginary. Ages 4-8. Author's agent: Stephen Barbara, InkWell Management. Illustrator's agent: Natascha Morris and Tracy Marchini, BookEnds Literary. (May)

K-Gr 3—This story of a special friendship between a monster and a young girl gently introduces the sometimes-sad reality of changing relationships. Despite others telling the narrator that he is simply imagining the friend, the pair does everything together, with the narrator repeating the line "She was real to me." One morning, the narrator discovers the other is missing. Despite searching everywhere, the dear friend is nowhere to be found. The narrator is devastated at the loss and misses the comfort of his old friend. With time, though, our hero makes new friends, and finds himself doing the same things with the new crew as he did with his old friend. He misses his first friend but finds solace in imagining all of the wonderful things she may be doing and drifts to sleep beside his monster pals. The magical illustrations complement the themes of imagination and childlike wonder well. The story begins a bit predictably; the pace is reignited when it is revealed that the narrator is actually the monster. VERDICT To adult readers, this sweet story gently conveys the inevitable pains of changing relationships, but this theme may be lost on young children; share with older elementary children instead.—Ellen Kleber