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. Gr 4–7—This inventive mix of humor and suspense starts with the amusing appearance of Amanda's imaginary friend, Rudger. Their summer of make-believe adventures quickly darkens, though, when Mr. Bunting shows up. He's a grown-up who can not only see "Imaginaries" like Rudger, but also eats them to prolong his own life. After a narrow escape from Bunting and his creepy sidekick, a girl who's also an Imaginary, the narrative shifts from Amanda to Rudger. The boy discovers a secret library full of other imaginary people and creatures, then finds his way back to Amanda for a final confrontation with Bunting. The premise of the Imaginaries is unveiled nicely, with a plot that's never predictable. The author is equally adept at depicting lighthearted characterizations and scenes that are truly scary. Gravett's illustrations provide excellent support for the story, ranging from black-and-white spot art to full-page images, along with several full-color spreads. Some are fun, while others are chilling, such as the series of images that uses alternating all-black pages to lead into a harrowing portrait of the evil Imaginary girl, staring right at Amanda as she tries to hide. The eerie moments never overwhelm the larger story, though, and questions about the power and limits of imagination provide some food for thought amid the action. VERDICT A great choice for readers who like fantastic tales with a dose of true scariness.—Steven Engelfried, Wilsonville Public Library, OR “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 A.F. Harrold (1975 - present) is an English poet and children's author. Some of the things he makes (books, poems, faces) are funny, some are strange, some are sad, and many of them involve the privilege of working with amazin