Kevin, The Make-Believe Friend You Can Really Believe In

Sid blames his domestic misdemeanours on an invisible friend. If his dinner’s thrown on the floor or his ball breaks the bird bath, then he’s not to blame. It’s Kevin. When Sid is invited to describe the invisible Kevin by his exasperated and understandably sceptical parents, he draws a furry pink spotted blob, who is ‘kind but clumsy’. Little does he expect to meet Kevin that very night and go to live in Kevin’s family as Kevin’s imaginary friend. Once there, however, he creates exactly the same kind of chaos which he has attributed to Kevin in his own life. But there his actions give him pause for thought. Rob Biddulph has created a clever rhyming cautionary tale about personal responsibility and friendship that is funny and thoughtful and brought to life in stylish illustrations. Perhaps cleverest of all, because never put into words, is the contrast between the sepia of Sid’s ordinary life, with its implied loneliness and boredom, and the weird psychedelic forms and colours of his imagination. It’s a book that’s not only cautionary but also reassuring and comforting.