I definitely judged this book by it's cover. The cover of this book is beautiful. There are a few pictures throughout The Imaginary and they are all very well done. I loved it.
The Imaginary would make a good read aloud for a younger grade. The Imaginary is the story of a young girl with an imaginary friend. Of course, she's the only one who can see him. Until....others can see him too. And she can see other imaginaries too. Danger is lurking for the imaginaries. A fun story for those with a great imagination.
Sadie is a lovely little girl with a wonderful imagination and she loves to have fun. Sometimes her friends are characters from the books she reads and imagines herself within the story. Sometimes her friends are people who live on her street. Where some people might just see a box; Sadie sees a boat. Sadie can't see wings on her back but she knows they are there. Do you have wings?
This is Sadie is a new book that will be published in May by Tundra books. I was fortunate to receive an e-book copy from NetGalley. I loved the character of Sadie. She has such a wonderful imagination. Her creativity seems to be fuelled by reading books. My favourite page in the book is when Sadie is looking at her wings and the author asks the reader if we have wings too. Love it! The illustrations by Julie Morstad were perfect. A lovely picture book that I will be certain to add to my library shelves this spring. Sara O'Leary is a Canadian author and I believe this book could be showing up on next year's Blue Spruce list.
Once Upon a Balloon is the story of two young brothers, Theo and Zeke. Theo receives a balloon from his cousin. His mom offers to tie it around his wrist. Everyone warns him not to let go of the balloon. Theo tries really hard but his fingers just won't listen and sadly, he lets go of the balloon. But where did it go? Theo asks. His mom and dad give answers that seem very unlikely. But his big brother Zeke knows everything so when Theo tells him the balloon went to Chicago that just has to be true. But what happens to all the balloons in Chicago? Big brother Zeke has answers to all Theo's questions, after all, he is the older brother and he does know everything.
I had so much fun reading this book to the kids at school. I read it with kids from kindergarten to grade 5. They all enjoyed it. While I read I asked the kids where they thought the balloon went. Had any of the children been to Chicago? Did they see lots of balloons there?
I was very surprised when I read that Once Upon a Balloon is Bree Galbraith's first book. However, I was not surprised to read that she is Canadian. So many great authors come from Canada! Can't wait to see what Galbraith writes next.