Book jacket blurb:
People used to call them ‘friends’ and said how good they were for your brain. And then a day came when all that changed… when they became the enemy.
Now anyone found harbouring a rogue imaginary friend is in for the COSH, an operation that fries your imagination and zaps whatever’s in there out of existence. That’s why I wish Klaris Cliff had never shown up and why I know that proving her innocence is the last hope I have of saving myself.
Opinion:
A lovely tween novel Young Bookworm read for his school book club and he even had the opportunity to join a zoom meeting with the author.
This is the summer holiday tale of pals Joseph and Flea, their shared imaginary friend, Klaris, and all sorts of mischief that is blamed on her. However, the Authorities consider imaginary friends to be seriously dangerous, and employ RIPS to hunt those children with imaginary friends. To stop themselves from being taken into hospital for the COSH (imagination removal), Joseph and Flea set about investigating mysterious incidents in the hope of proving Klaris is innocent.
On the surface this is a lovely story about friendship and family but it doesn’t take much to see a deeper meaning in who is defined as ‘different’ and how they are treated. We don’t have to look back far to see examples how easily we, as an allegedly educated and civilised nation, pick a ‘bogeyman’ upon whom to blame our problems, because it’s more convenient to find someone to blame rather than understand the complex truth. I particularly loved the twist at the end, I really didn’t see it coming!
Highly recommended for your Tween Bookworms, and why not dive into this easy read and curious tale while you have it around.
- Young bookworms
- Deeper meaning
- Discuss
