Here is what I know:
My Name is Budo.
I have been alive for five years.
Five years is very long for someone like me to be alive.
Max gave me my name.
Max is the only human person who can see me.
Max's parents call me an imaginary friend.
I love Max's teacher, Mrs Gosk.
I do not like Max's other teacher, Mrs Patterson.
I am not imaginary..
I loved this book. It was completely unexpected and I would have never picked it up if it hadn’t been for my virtual book club picking it.
“You have to be the bravest
person in the world to go out every day, being yourself when no one likes who
you are.”
My Name is Budo.
I have been alive for five years.
Five years is very long for someone like me to be alive.
Max gave me my name.
Max is the only human person who can see me.
Max's parents call me an imaginary friend.
I love Max's teacher, Mrs Gosk.
I do not like Max's other teacher, Mrs Patterson.
I am not imaginary..
I loved this book. It was completely unexpected and I would have never picked it up if it hadn’t been for my virtual book club picking it.
This
is Budo’s story and narrates it as someone who doesn’t understand how
a lot of things work and only knows what Max – an 8 year old has told him. Based on this you have to be in the right
frame of mind as some of the wording and stories are a little childish, like
taking a bonus poop (he does say the word poop a lot). But it adds something to the innocence of this story. If you are looking for great prose here, move
along. You have to understand that it is
‘written’ by a 5 year old imaginary friend through the eyes of an 8 year
old. Matthew Dicks did an amazing job
writing that way.
Budo, while he calls himself an imaginary friend-
mainly for lack of a better word, he feels he is as real as can be because he
sympathizes with Max and his parents (His parents
fight about how come they don’t have a ‘normal’ son and what the best way is to
fix him so Max can seem happier).
He also has internal debates on helping Max at the cost of him being
around.
While
they never come out and say it, I think it is safe to assume that Max is
autistic. For example he likes everything in place, can only wear 7 articles of
clothing at a time, and only eats certain things at certain restaurants, things
like that. I believe Max imagined Budo to provide some sense of commonality, to
have a friend that understands who he is, when Max himself cannot emote things.
Max needs someone like
Budo to help him cope. That
being said, Budo is the culmination of Max’s mind. Everything that
Budo is and can do, it is because Max imagined it at the time. Most imaginary friends are random shapes,
animals, missing ears, etc. Budo is special in the fact that he is very human
looking.
It
quickly turns into a suspense type novel when Max is kidnapped. You feel the
heartbreak Budo feels because he knows exactly who did it, yet he has no way of
letting anyone know.
Other
points of this book that I loved: I loved the description of the teachers. Mrs. Gosk does seem like a great teacher that
everyone wish they had the privilege of having. “It's strange how
teachers can go off to college for all those years to learn to become teachers,
but some of them never learn the easy stuff. Like making kids laugh. And making
sure they know that you love them.”
I gave
this book 5 star because it was unexpected. It was emotional. And lastly it was different. I definitely recommend
this book! It also makes me wish I had a
wicked imaginary friend.
This book sounds really unique. I've never seen this point of view done before, and it sounds like that's a good thing. I'll have to add it to my to-read list on Goodreads now. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
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