Tag Archives: the adventures of beekle

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat.

 

 

 

What a magical book. A heartwarming book. A brave, enduring character, that Beekle.

 

 

 

 

 

 click image(s) to enlarge

An imaginary friend looking for the friend who’s going to imagine him. Traveling all the way from his imaginary friend world to the real world. The real, gray world. (Except it’s colorful and bright where kids play! The use of color in this book is masterful and such a joy to behold.)

 

A celebration of imagination and play and the inventiveness of a child’s mind. And a celebration of friendship, even the kind nobody else can see, but is the real deal.

 

I’m confident you’ll see when you read it (or read it again). Yes, you will.

 

 

 

 

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Beekle has elements of two of my favorite picture book creators, Shaun Tan and Oliver Jeffers. It’s like Lost and Found meets The Red Tree meets Santat’s particular magic. Agree? Either way, Beekle is an original and full of almost unimaginable wonder.

Thanks to Dan Santat for images!

 

 

 

 

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Could this be the easiest craft ever? Okay, maybe not, but it’s pretty simple. Not only that, but you get to keep an adorable marshmallow Beekle around as an unimaginary friend. For real.

When I see Beekle, my mind immediately goes to marshmallows! Puffy, lovable marshmallows. (Also, while totally artificial, they smell really really good!)

Just looking at this little guy makes me smile. And remember the magic of the book. (Isn’t he sweeeeeet?)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cut two toothpicks in half (remove and discard the sharp side so no one gets poked).

2. Slide a flat side of toothpick into small marshmallow; do it again with the other one.

(Again, be careful not to get poked.)

3. Insert toothpick/feet into jumbo marshmallow.

4. Draw Beekle’s face with a Sharpie.

5. Fold/cut gold paper into a crown by cutting it into a strip and cutting out triangle shapes along one edge; then fasten it together with tape.

6. Put the crown on Beekle’s head and tada!

The great thing about marshmallows is, well, they’re probably not going to rot!  I’ve got my Beekle on a bookcase in my apartment and every so often I just want to give adorable Mr. Puffy a little squeeze!

*warning: this craft is not edible despite being made from marshmallows*