Review of The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat is the story of an imaginary friend who can’t find his person. This 2015 Caldecott Award winner features Beekle, a pudgy white creature with a gold crown perched on his head who waits and waits for his child to pick him. When he never gets chosen, Beekle does the unthinkable and travels to the real world to find his friend. After much searching, he finally finds Alice and they share many adventures. The story of Beekle is sweet and the artwork is beautiful.

Image

Cover image of The Adventures of Beekle by Dan Santat. Santat, D. (2014). [Cover image of The adventures of Beekle: The unimaginary friend]. Retrieved from https://www.lbyr.com/titles/dan-santat/the-adventures-of-beekle-the-unimaginary-friend/9780316199988/

Evaluation

One of the strengths of The Adventures of Beekle is the point of view. The story, told from Beekle’s perspective, is unique because he is an imaginary creature. From the very beginning, the reader gets the sense that Beekle, and all imaginary friends, live for the day they are picked by their child. Their whole existence depends on their special child. Beekle can’t wait to be picked, but “he waited for many nights” (Santat, 2014, p. 5). One day, he decided to stop waiting and take a journey to the real world, where he is shocked by what a strange place it is. Beekle expects the real world to be full of happy kids, but instead, what he finds is that “no kids were eating cake. No one stopped to hear the music. And everyone needed naptime” (Santat, 2014, pp. 16-17). Beekle finds his way to a bright and sunny playground, where he feels at home, but he still searches for his friend. When he can’t find her, his sadness is almost palpable. When Beekle finally finds Alice, their connection is immediate and everything is right with Beekle’s world.

The art by Dan Santat really serves to establish the mood in the story. From the first two-page spread in the book, we see that Beekle is born on an island (where all imaginary friends are born), and in the image, Beekle literally emerges from the end of a rainbow. This element of magic is infused throughout the story and surrounds the imaginary creatures. However, when Beekle travels to the real world, the world changes from bright and cheery to cold and gray. The world that is populated by adults is dull and sad. No one is happy, no one stops to enjoy the little things, and everyone is tired. Beekle is confused and lost in this gray world until he spots something familiar, another imaginary friend. Beekle follows the invisible creature to the most bright, cheerful spot imaginable – a playground. But still, the mood is somber because Beekle can’t find his friend; this somber feeling is mirrored in the browns and tans of the tree that Beekle climbs to get a better view. When Beekle finally finds Alice, the colors start to warm up and the last few pages are bright and cheery, reflecting Beekle’s joy.

Dan Santat’s illustrations also extend and develop the plot. The story is very simple: Beekle is on a quest to find his person. The words are sparse and much of the emotion comes through the illustrations. For example, when Beekle and Alice first meet, 12 panels show how their meeting goes from incredibly awkward to loving (Santat, 2014, pp. 32-33). At first, both are shy and look away from each other; they don’t know if they should hug or shake hands and gesture awkwardly at each other. Finally, they look at each other and giggle. When Alice gives Beekle his name, he turns a delightful shade of pink and they both get crooked grins before clutching each other tightly. Throughout the story, the illustrations paint a picture for the reader that goes beyond the text of the story.

Response

I loved reading The Adventures of Beekle because it reminded me very much of my five-year-old nephew who has two imaginary friends named Dave and Bobby. For my nephew, Dave and Bobby are very real and are very much a part of his life. In fact, I have played many games of Candyland with the three of them, and it is very entertaining to play a real game with imaginary friends. In my view of the world, I believe having imaginary friends is an excellent creative and emotional outlet for young children. In the story, Beekle and Alice do everything together, and their friendship allows them to do the unimaginable. The very fact that Alice has Beekle on her side allows her to do more than she could on her own. I love that Dan Santat celebrates imaginary friends and lets them be the focal point of this story. Overall, I really enjoyed The Adventures of Beekle because of its magical qualities and its delightful celebration of childhood and the powers of imagination. This story is sure to delight adults and children alike.

Conclusion

The Adventures of Beekle is a charming story that celebrates the magic and joy of childhood and imagination. Told from the perspective of an imaginary friend, readers will see the disparity between the real world, which is cold and dark, and the brightly colored world populated by children and their vivid imaginations. The art is bold and sets the mood, alternating between tones of gray in the adult world and bright colors in the places populated by children and their imaginary friends. The art also serves to extend the text, encouraging the reader to really study the illustrations to learn more about the characters. The Adventures of Beekle is a magical story that is sure to appeal to kids and adults alike. Young children will enjoy reading about imaginary friends from a new perspective while adults will look back fondly on their own childhoods. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommend it to children aged 4-8. 4 stars.

Citations

Santat, D. (2014). The adventures of Beekle: The unimaginary friend. New York, NY: Little Brown and Company.

Santat, D. (2014). [Cover image of The adventures of Beekle: The unimaginary friend]. Retrieved from https://www.lbyr.com/titles/dan-santat/the-adventures-of-beekle-the-unimaginary-friend/9780316199988/