A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book for 2015” —:
“Harrold offers an appealingly childcentric world with hefty doses of scare and malevolence. . . . Gravett's several double-page, full-color illustrations, along with lively margin drawings, sweetly blend the real with the imaginary, giving Amanda and Rudger appealing personality—and deliver chills in the form of Mr. Bunting and his own dreadfully spooky imaginary companion. Wonderfully entertaining.” —starred review, Kirkus Reviews
“[An] inventive mix of humor and suspense. . . . The author is equally adept at depicting lighthearted characterizations and scenes that are truly scary. Gravett's illustrations provide excellent support for the story. . . A great choice for readers who like fantastic tales with a dose of true scariness.” —starred review, School Library Journal
“Emily Gravett's delicate illustrations (and dazzling cover art) . . . capture the motion of Amanda and Rudger's adventures, but the tranquility of play too. . . . For all its flirtations with danger, 'The Imaginary' is most affecting and lovely when describing powerful relationships — the ones we need and the ones we want, and how this shifts, surprising us, over the course of our lives.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Echoes of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Toy Story can be detected in Harrold's (the Fizzlebert Stump books) eerie standalone fantasy. . . . Harrold's story moves along at a steady clip, thanks to some very tense sequences and Gravett's typically polished illustrations, which feature spikes of lurid color and haunting imagery.” —Publishers Weekly
“Gravett's full color double-page spreads are magnificent in their capture of the otherworldly tone of the novel. . . The buoyancy and joy in the scenes where Amanda and Rudger take a few ordinary objects and dream up whole worlds of entertainment may have readers wishing they had such a perfect friend.” —BCCB
“[A] nuanced exploration of the relationship between imagination and memory. . . . Gravett's illustrations use transparency and opacity, color and black-and-white to indicate how real everyone in a scene is to everyone else.” —The Horn Book Magazine
“[A] winningly whimsical celebration of the imagination, beautifully enhanced by both black-and-white and full-color illustrations by Kate Greenaway Medal–winning Gravett. Together, the text and pictures make this a very real treat.” —Booklist
★ 2015-01-10
What happens to the imaginary friends we make when we are so little we can't remember them later on? Amanda's friend Rudger simply appears one day in Amanda's wardrobe and becomes her constant companion—and hers alone. He finds that sharing in Amanda's rich and adventurous imagination has its rewards but some significant dangers and challenges. There's the creepy Mr. Bunting, an ancient man in Hawaiian-print shirt and shorts who, it turns out, stays alive by devouring children's imaginary friends. There's the possibility of being forgotten, when age or injury—or death?—causes the bond to weaken. When Amanda is hit by a car, Rudger is able to take refuge in a library, the one place apart from children's company where sufficient imagination dwells to keep imaginary companions from fading. Rudger's attempts to connect with a boy too young to enjoy his unexpected appearance and to one of Amanda's less versatile friends are ill-starred. A harrowing hospital scene is satisfyingly gruesome though not disastrous. Harrold offers an appealingly childcentric world with hefty doses of scare and malevolence to explore the possibilities of imaginary beings with feelings of their own. Gravett's several double-page, full-color illustrations, along with lively margin drawings, sweetly blend the real with the imaginary, giving Amanda and Rudger appealing personality—and deliver chills in the form of Mr. Bunting and his own dreadfully spooky imaginary companion. Wonderfully entertaining. (Fantasy. 9-13)
