Rudger is Amanda Shuffleup's imaginary friend. Nobody else can see Rudger-until the evil Mr. Bunting arrives at Amanda's door. Mr. Bunting hunts imaginaries. Rumor has it that he even eats them. And now he's found Rudger.
Soon Rudger is alone, and running for his imaginary life. He needs to find Amanda before Mr. Bunting catches him-and before Amanda forgets him and he fades away to nothing. But how can an unreal boy stand alone in the real world?
In the vein of Coraline, this gripping take on imaginary friends comes to life in a lush package: beautiful illustrations (10 in full color) by acclaimed artist Emily Gravett, a foiled and debossed case cover, printed endpapers, and deckled page edges.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
I wish the Trunchbull would hurl Rudger into non-existence.
By Armando N. Roman
I hate to be “that guy” here, and be the first one to not give this book 4 or 5 stars, but even 2 chapters into this book, I couldn’t figure out how it was getting such positive feedback. Halfway through, I felt like a kid reading a required book for school that wasn’t good at all. And near the end, I debated on just skipping to the final chapter and getting it over with. There is nothing about The Imaginary that hasn’t been done before…except the books that have done it before, have done it better. I’m almost insulted that it’s compared to The Witches, by Roald Dahl, on the back of the book.Amanda is a young girl with an imaginary friend, Rudger. The two of them spend most of their time playing together at home, going on adventures, and they live with Amanda’s mom. One day, a strange old man, Mr. Bunting, comes to her home, claiming he’s doing a survey. He’s quickly shooed away, but Amanda saw someone else with him- a skinny, pale girl with long black hair and very dark eyes. Her mom didn’t seem to notice the girl for some reason. We soon find out that he’s on the look out for imaginary friends, and the reason why he’s after them isn’t very good for anyone other than himself. Soon, Amanda and Rudger are separated, and he’s left to fend for himself.When you read the plot summary for The Imaginary, it sounds good; that’s why I gave it a chance. The key problems are that it has dull characters and the whole middle section of the book is boring filler. I’m not ruining anything by saying that Amanda and Rudger get separated not long into the book, because the prologue gives away what may or may not have happened to her. When it finally happened, I didn’t care. She doesn’t do much aside from boss Rudger around, rarely listening to anything he has to say, and that’s about it. Later on when Rudger is with another kid, he brings up how much better Amanda is. Maybe it’s Stockholm Syndrome. Rudger on the other hand, has even less personality than Al Gore. There were a grand total of three things he said or did that weren’t him just agreeing with what someone else said, going along with what someone else wanted to do, or included him being forced into something. If Amanda’s imagination came up with this, of all things, for an imaginary friend, I can’t figure out how she had such great imagination the [few] adventures they had were described. If asked to name 3 personality traits for Rudger, I’d be silent, because he didn’t have any. Mr. Bunting and his cohort seemed like they had potential when they were introduced, but his annoying way of talking and her one dimensional-ness lasted throughout.Once Amanda and Rudger get separated, the book becomes so boring that it’s crazy. Why did I keep on reading? Because I had a tiny bit of hope that something good was going to happen eventually. When I got to the last 3 pages of the second-to-last chapter, my hopes were crushed. Several plot points that should have been explained, one involving mirrors, weren’t. I also couldn’t help but notice how the author loves to describe the way people are talking. Like if someone asked a question in a certain way, he’d describe it in great detail…75% of the time. Oddly enough, not much work went into the way characters were actually talking, and very rarely did he end a sentence from their dialogue with anything other than a period. When one character is in big trouble near the end, someone else is screaming, but each thing they say loses any sense of urgency because everything ends with a period. I get that I have an advance copy and this -could- be changed, but if it was left like this for an advance copy, after being edited who knows how many times before in previous drafts, I don’t see it happening. I also wasn’t a fan of the story trying to change the pace by having different “sections”, bullets breaking up if something was happening to Amanda, then switching to Rudger. It works at first, admittedy, but later on it may as well have been told like a regular story since a lot of the time, certain characters would be right next to each other, and yet the sections were treated like they were all in vastly different areas.There are two positive things that kept it from getting 1 star for me. The first being that it doesn’t completely follow the steps of very similar works (Coraline by Neil Gaiman, which is mentioned on the back, immediately came to mind more than once). Normally, any story about a child getting into some supernatural situation follows the same plot, is predictable from start to finish, and ends the same way. The Imaginary, thankfully, didn’t do any of this for the most part. The other pro is something I can’t talk about much, since it’s a major plot point, and it has to do with a key character that’s waiting for something. This character is the kind that I’m a sucker for- the old, reliable character that still has it in him to give it his all, and show everyone that he’s still capable. Once they were introduced and spoke their first couple lines of dialogue, I finally felt something for someone in the book, and sure enough, this was the only character I cared about.For what it’s worth, I still love a lot of books I read as a kid, especially those when I was in 5th and 6th grade like a lot of Roald Dahl’s work, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Black Pearl, weird tales from Bruce Coville and more. The Imaginary is something that, had it been around back then, I’m sure I’d feel the same way I do now. The book is full of itself, with this forced poem about remembering in the beginning, and features art that’s nothing special but at least makes it so there’s less to read through most of the time. Finishing The Imaginary, I felt the same relief that you get right after you throw up. Maybe I’ll feel better if I read The Witches again now.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Fun book but might be a little harsh for a sensitive child to read
By iiiireader
I lived the book and really enjoyed the illustrations, especially the way they were placed throughout the pages in different spots. The story about imaginary friends was interesting; however, I was a little concerned that parts of it were a trifle too scarey. I would be afraid to read it to some children as I think it could cause nightmares. Mr. Bunting is an evil bad guy and his imaginary friend is quite scarey, too. I would be careful which child I read this to or gave it to to read on their own.If the child you have in mind is not quite so sensitive, then they would probably enjoy the story about a young lady and her imaginary boy friend (not to be confused with boyfriend!)
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.We love the imaginary friends and their worlds, but this is a little too dark and creepy for the little ones.
By Enchanted In Dixie
A little too dark for the age targeted 8-12. Although it is a good read, the darkness, death, creepy things make it more suitable for the 10 and up who are not faint of heart. This is too creepy for my 14 year old, but my 17 year old read it and said it was interesting okay. It starts with Amanda is dead and talks of the bad guy eating the imaginary friends.
