the adventures of beekle the unimaginary friend dan santat

The park is made to look like an enchanted place for children to play or even a safe harbor away from the gloom of the outside world. The park has imaginary friends and children playing on dragons as well as rocket ship slides. The juxtaposition of the bland color with the vibrant color of the park almost seems to evoke a sense of safety and familiarity for the main character. On the other hand, when Beekle reaches the park where children are playing the colors change to bright and vibrant illustrations. He achieves this by utilizing gloomy colors such as grey, black, and white. Additionally, once Beekle reaches the adult world, you can see that Santat alters the colors he incorporates into the scene to represent a view of adulthood as monotonous and boring. On the island of imaginary friends, he depicts rainbows, beaches, and different creatures that create a mystical environment which stimulates the reader’s senses. Starting from the cover and throughout the story, his illustrations are full of color which he uses in a clever way to distinguish how a child might see the world. The way he employs graphic design and colors draw the reader into the narrative. Even the text is handwritten, instead of being printed like other books. He uses many different tools to create the illustrations such as water color, painting, graphic design, pencil, and ink. Beekle has finally found his friend.ĭan Santat’s illustrations are exquisite. They exchange glances of joy and become best friends. Eventually, he meets a little girl who has similar interests such as drawing and painting.

Beekle continues his search for his friend in the real world through the park. Soon Beekle reaches a playground with children and color.

It looks gray and full of adults rather than the younger crowd he is familiar with. At first, the real world is a place that Beekle has never imagined. All alone and determined to reverse his fortune, he decides to venture out into the real world. Many of the imaginary friends get picked and night-by-night Beekle, our main character patiently awaits for his turn to be chosen, but his turn never comes.

The story begins on a magical island where imaginary friends are born waiting to be chosen by a child as their friend. The illustrations, the story, and the major themes of this children’s book will draw you into this book to the point where you will want to read it again and again. The story of Beekle: The Unimaginary friend is a book for all ages. A winner of the 2015 Caldecott Award and beautifully illustrated by Dan Santat.

“Santat makes the unimaginable, imaginable”, said by Caldecott Medal Committee Chair Junko Yokota. The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friendįiction: Children’s Literature (Ages-3-6)

The adventures of beekle the unimaginary friend dan santat