Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend was, for me, a moving experience.

On the surface, it’s a simple story–Budo, Max’s imaginary friend, details their life together. Budo advises Max on the ways of the elementary school world. Max is a smart child who resides somewhere on the autism spectrum and often cannot express himself or understand the motivations of others. That’s when he turns to Budo for help.

I thought Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend would be a simple, albeit poignant, novel. I did not expect to be so moved by it. I think my emotional experience with this book has everything to do with Budo. Budo is a wise narrator helping others while aware of his own mortality. After all, he has been alive for five years, which is an eternity in the life of an imaginary friend. Budo teaches Max and the reader about ethics, sacrifice, and even death. On the state of imaginary friends, Max muses, “If you wish that you exist, you are wishing bad luck on your human. What should you do if you knew you could prolong your existence at the expense of your human friend?”

Budo sees all, understands all. Budo accepts others–other imaginary friends missing body parts and humans who struggle mentally or physically–with a wisdom far exceeding his years. He celebrates those who are different and challenges readers to step outside themselves to understand the pain of others. He says, “But you have to be the bravest person in the world to go out every day, being yourself when no one likes who you are.”

Finally, the author explores the idea of story. Lamenting his own mortality, Budo says, “I want to know the rest of Max’s story.” The narrator comments on works of literature and those magnificent souls, like Mrs. Gosk, who teach through the medium of story. I loved reading in the Acknowledgment section that Mrs. Gosk is a real teacher at the same school author Matthew Dicks teaches. A cool meta-coup in a work of fiction in which our friends the characters are imaginary, but stories are real.

I read Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend as part of Book Challenge by Erin. For the same challenge, I also finished The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, The Animal Family by Randall Jarrell, Study in Scarlet and Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle, Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan, A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, Midnight Witness by Sara Blaedel. I am currently reading I, Robot by Isaac Asimov (almost finished), Happiness by Aminatta Forna, and The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness by Michelle Alexander. Phew! Looks like a lot!

How about you, readers? Have you read any of these? Are you participating in a reading challenge? How goes it?