The Imaginary
Now on Netflix
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Now an animated feature film on Netflix!
Perfect for fans of Coraline and Roald Dahl, this fully-illustrated journey into the secret world of imaginary friends is quirky, dark, and utterly irresistible.
Rudger is Amanda Shuffleup's imaginary friend. Nobody else can see Rudger-until the evil Mr. Bunting arrives at Amanda's door. Mr. Bunting hunts imaginaries. Rumor has it that he even eats them. And now he's found Rudger.
Soon Rudger is alone, and running for his imaginary life. He needs to find Amanda before Mr. Bunting catches him-and before Amanda forgets him and he fades away to nothing. But how can an unreal boy stand alone in the real world?
Featuring gorgeous illustrations and a beautiful design, this suspenseful fantasy tells a powerful tale of friendship, imagination, and remembering what you never knew you lost.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Echoes of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Toy Story can be detected in Harrold's (the Fizzlebert Stump books) eerie standalone fantasy. Creative children like Amanda Shuffleup can fashion imaginary friends like Rudger, a boy who unexpectedly manifests in Amanda's wardrobe one day. Most of the time adults don't see a thing, but then there are sinister strangers like Mr. Bunting, whose moustache hides a terrifying maw designed to gobble up imaginaries even though Mr. Bunting seems to have an imaginary companion of his own. As if this weren't bad enough, Rudger is threatened by Fading slow, silent erasure caused by a child's forgetting when Amanda is injured in an accident. The intervention of Zinzan, a wise old alley cat, provides a temporary refuge, but Rudger can only overcome his plight by asserting his own memory and vision. Part horror story, part gentle parable, 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. Ages 8 12.
