This was an awesome book. Wildly imaginative, touching, funny, and I just couldn’t wait to get back to it.

The book is told from the point of view of an imaginary friend, an old, in imaginary friend’s terms, imaginary friend who is wise, but who’s also a bit frightened by all the stuff he doesn’t know.

I was reminded of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” but I’m reluctant to say that because I don’t want to make it sound like it’s derivative of it (of course, I’ve gone and said it, so I couldn’t have been too reluctant). Budo, the narrator, and his imaginer friend Max are so well drawn, as are Max’s parents and teachers. The world Matthew Dicks covers is so different, and so well rendered that it separates itself from The Curious Incident as not just another book about some kid who is possibly on the autism spectrum. He captures details about the life and lifecycle of an imaginary friend that you find yourself agreeing, saying, “Well, sure, of course many imaginary friends don’t have eyebrows.”

And, like Budo, you find yourself playing a little bit of the part of imaginary friend, someone who will go away when you stop reading the story. You’re sad that the story will, necessarily, end at some point, and that you will not be there, to carry on with these characters to whom you’ve dedicated a few hours of your life. But what a great ride it was while you were along for it.