Real to Me

March 15, 2023
The imaginary-friend trope gets turned on its head. Told mostly in first person, this story follows a large furry green creature and a small Black girl who are engaged in a series of adventures. "When you have a great friend, the rest of the world can seem to disappear." Together the two laugh and play, are brave together, and get in trouble. Others say that the friend is imaginary, but our narrator isn't so sure. And then, one day, the friend is unexpectedly gone. Now it becomes clear that the narrator wasn't the girl but the newly morose and lonely monster. "She was real to me." In time our narrator makes friends with other creatures and once more has adventures and misadventures. Even so, the protagonist never forgets their first friend. It is a testament to Figueroa's talents that while the main character may be furry, the heartbreak and longing they exude feel achingly real, as does the friendship at the center of the story. In the latter half of the book, L� elegantly repeats phrases and cadences that appeared in the first half (thereby linking the new friends to the old), but it's Figueroa's lush, electric, pulsating hues and colors that bring the worldbuilding to life, with jewel tones depicting bright sunny days and illuminated nights. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A friend is a friend, and while the twist is clever, the robust storytelling throughout will prove the book's greatest lure. (Picture book. 4-7)

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March 13, 2023
“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.

April 1, 2023
Grades K-2 A little girl and a green-furred, floppy-eared creature are the best of friends. And while "others tried to tell me she that she wasn't real," the narrator counts on her as a reliable, supportive presence, from enjoying playtime to sometimes getting into mild mayhem, "and I can't imagine anything more real than that." But when she wakes to discover her friend has suddenly disappeared, it brings worry, doubt ("Maybe I did just imagine her"), and loneliness. A charming twist will surprise readers, but they'll also connect to the reassuring emphasis on the enduring impact of first friends and the satisfaction of making new ones. The soft-edged, vibrantly colored illustrations have a dreamy feel, lending dimension and emotional resonance to the friends' individual and shared experiences, extended in page-filling spreads with fanciful backdrops. Nicely balancing between whimsy and sincerity, author L� (Drawn Together, 2018) and illustrator Figueroa (We Wait for the Sun, 2021) together provide an insightful and delightful take on the imaginary-friend concept, while highlighting what it means to have--and be--a real friend.

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April 1, 2023

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

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2023
"When you have a great friend, the rest of the world can seem to disappear." But if that friend suddenly disappears, can you trust that they were real? Le (Lift, rev. 5/20) and Figueroa's (illustrator of We Wait for the Sun, rev. 5/21) heartwarming story adds a twist to the typical imaginary-friend scenario: here it's a brown-skinned girl who unexpectedly vanishes and a green, furry monster who's despondent over her absence and is left questioning what's true. Over time, the monster realizes that what matters is that "she was real to me." Repetition in Le's text highlights similarities and differences between the monster's experiences with the little girl, without her, and then with new monster friends. This technique emphasizes and validates the childlike thought process of the monster, a stand-in for young readers who may be working through their own feelings of uncertainty; it also helps them better understand change, both in the text's phrasing and in friendships. The depth and textures in Figueroa's digital illustrations add detail to the monster's fantastical world; rich purples and greens throughout the book convey the warmth of the duo's interactions. A friend may disappear from your life, but the impact of that friendship remains. Cynthia K. Ritter

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2023
"When you have a great friend, the rest of the world can seem to disappear." But if that friend suddenly disappears, can you trust that they were real? L� (Lift, rev. 5/20) and Figueroa's (illustrator of We Wait for the Sun, rev. 5/21) heartwarming story adds a twist to the typical imaginary-friend scenario: here it's a brown-skinned girl who unexpectedly vanishes and a green, furry monster who's despondent over her absence and is left questioning what's true. Over time, the monster realizes that what matters is that "she was real to me." Repetition in L�'s text highlights similarities and differences between the monster's experiences with the little girl, without her, and then with new monster friends. This technique emphasizes and validates the childlike thought process of the monster, a stand-in for young readers who may be working through their own feelings of uncertainty; it also helps them better understand change, both in the text's phrasing and in friendships. The depth and textures in Figueroa's digital illustrations add detail to the monster's fantastical world; rich purples and greens throughout the book convey the warmth of the duo's interactions. A friend may disappear from your life, but the impact of that friendship remains.

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)