Wednesday, March 20, 2013




Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend  by Matthew Dicks



I have never had an imaginary friend and I don’t know of anyone that had that had one either.  Or perhaps they might have had an imaginary friend but they chose to keep the knowledge of the friend to themselves.  All I know is if I did have an imaginary friend it would be one that was fully fleshed out. Apparently children in this book did not feel that need or they did not have the sophistication or the intelligence but Max did.

Max is a special needs child and while nothing is spelled out from how the author describes him it seems like he has Aspbergers syndrome.  His imaginary friend is the narrator of the story and from the beginning it is clear that Budo is different than the other imaginary friends.  He is so life like that most of the time you forget that he is imaginary. He is Max’s only friend given the fact that Max cannot relate to his human classmates.  But like all imaginary friends his job is to be there for Max to get him through good and bad times.  Budo really has to step up to the plate when Max mysteriously disappears from school.

The author does a good job describing the emotions and challenges of a special needs child and the relationships the child does or does not form with those around them.

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