When The Adventures of Beekle by Dan Santat received the Caldecott Medal, I was impressed with the story as much as the illustrations. A little girl befriends an imaginary creature in a heartfelt, brief story that preschoolers will relate to. For a storytime, this concept is not too abstract for preschoolers, and can be a lot of fun, and help parents talk to their children about their imaginations. Make Beekle characters out of marshmallows or make paper bag puppets of imaginary friends.
App: Nighty Night Circus, Fox and Sheep GmbH
Santat, Dan. THE ADVENTURES OF BEEKLE – THE UNIMAGINARY FRIEND. Beekle goes looking for a real child to befriend him, and meets a little girl in the park.
Burningham, John. ALDO. A little girl has an imaginary rabbit friend named Aldo.
Byun, You. DREAM FRIENDS. Melody has a cat-like imaginary friend, but wants to make “real” friends at her new school.
Henkes, Kevin. JESSICA. Ruthie wants her imaginary friend Jessica to accompany her to the first day of Kindergarten.
James, Simon. LEON AND BOB. Leon plays with his imaginary friend Bob until a new kid moves in next door.
Klise, Kate. IMAGINE HARRY. When Little Rabbit starts school, she doesn’t have time to spend with her imaginary friend.
Moore, Jodi. WHEN A DRAGON MOVES IN. A boy builds a sandcastle at the beach, and finds a small dragon living inside.
Mull, Brandon. PINGO. Chad decides he is too old to have an imaginary friend, but Pingo refuses to go away!
Perl, Erica S. DOTTY. The other kids make fun of Ida because she wears a blue string attached to her imaginary friend.
Rohmann, Eric. CLARA AND ASHA. Clara avoids bedtime by playing with her imaginary fish.
Sendak, Maurice. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. Are Max’s Wild Things real or imaginary? This classic picture book doesn’t ask you to decide.
Seo, Kaila. FRED. A boy has several monster-like imaginary friends.