Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend

June 25, 2012
Budo is Max’s imaginary friend. He’s always there to lend a supportive ear when Max is feeling down or protect him when he’s feeling spooked. But unlike most imaginary friends, Budo hasn’t disappeared because Max—who is different from other children—has never stopped believing in him. And luckily for Max, Budo—and a cadre of other imaginary friends—are there to save him when the young boy is kidnapped. Sadly, this audio edition of Dicks’s memorable novel falls flat. Narrator Matthew Brown delivers an uninspired performance: his pacing is slow and his tone overly childish—at times he sounds as if he’s reading to a kindergarten class. As such, the story loses some of its intensity in favor of a stubborn cuteness that many listeners may find off-putting. A St. Martin’s hardcover.

June 25, 2012
Elementary school teacher Dicks’s quirky and pleasant newest (after Unexpectedly, Milo) is narrated by Budo, eight-year-old Max Delaney’s imaginary friend of five years, who also serves as Max’s guardian/confidante and can only “persist” so long as Max doesn’t “forget” about him. Max’s dad, a manager at a Connecticut Burger King, and Max’s mom, a manager at Aetna, argue and fret about the introverted Max, a “late bloomer” and “special needs” student. The charmingly sophisticated Budo likes Max’s teacher, Mrs. Gosk, but he’s suspicious of Mrs. Patterson, his paraprofessional. Budo’s wariness proves well-founded when the “little-boy-stealing devil” Mrs. Patterson (who is grief-stricken over the death of her son, Scotty) kidnaps Max. The tenacious Budo finds him in Mrs. Patterson’s basement playing with Legos; since Budo can only communicate with Max, he enlists imaginary friends Oswald the Giant and Teeny the fairy to orchestrate Max’s release. But while Budo fights to free Max, he also has his own tenuous existence to worry about. A chipper narrative and lively climax make Dicks’s newest a fun read and engaging exploration of the vibrant world of a child’s imagination. Agent: Taryn Fagerness.