I am Ray’s Imaginary Friend

I think this may be a new departure for one of the stalwarts of children’s poetry. This is a verse novel for the under tens, largely uncharted territory, unless you count some picture books, which, although short, can have the resonance of poetry. This is over two hundred pages in novel format, about the life of eight-year-old Ray, told by his imaginary friend. This is such a clever idea to insinuate the author into the story that I can’t believe this is its first use. Perhaps it is the equivalent of the ghosts that sometimes drift about in adult books. Jacob doesn’t have a name when he is first imagined by Ray and, for a while, he appears to be only Ray’s imaginary friend, but we gradually realise that he is one of a band of comforters, rather like Clarence, the angel in It’s a Wonderful Life, and he has been friend to other children before and will be to other children after Ray. Ray is in need of a friend. He loves Pratt’s Bottom, the village where he lives, but his parents have decided to move to the city and Ray is having a hard time adjusting. Jacob has both a rare insight into Ray’s feelings and offers the kind of sensible calm support that can only have been developed in several imaginary lifetimes. Moving is certainly one of the most stressful events in a child’s life and, through Ray and Jacob, Brian Moses gives us an account that is honest, perceptive and sympathetic, sad and funny at turns, and, above all, reassuring. A fine production from Scallywag Press, with warm, well observed illustrations from Bethan Welby.