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this inevitable destiny of meeting this new person but knowing you'll love them unconditionally without having ever met. Then the imagination becomes a reality when you finally hold your child in your arms for the first time, and that's when your imaginary friend gets his name, Beekle". The name Beekle came from his son's first word, an attempt to say bicycle. Santat's goal was to explore imaginary friends in a different way from others by taking the point of view of the imaginary friend.
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attempts to fit in with the other imaginary friends by trying to look and act as they did, as "he doesn't like who he is and feels like he's too weird to be imagined". Santat and his editor chose to remove this from the draft, as they felt that this was "more of a teenagers reaction to not fitting in" and they "decided it was better to write a story about the anxieties of making your very first friend".
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The story was originally a metaphor for the creative process; Beekle was originally drawn with one eye. Through the writing process Beekle become more of a blob and the creative process metaphor was deemphasized to focus on the theme of friendship. In the original draft Santat had Beekle make several
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Santat's story is accompanied by his own artwork and Horn Book reviewer Robin Smith has stated that his use of greys and colors and the way that the story being told through Beekle's point of view helps readers to feel Beekle's emotions. The book is meant to be written by Alice, the girl who Beekle
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One of 13 published books Santat illustrated in 2014, he wrote the book as a gift to his son, who also inspired the story. He has stated that for him personally, the book is "a metaphor about the birth of my son", as "there's the initial anxiety of being a first-time father realizing that there is
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Beekle is an imaginary friend who decides to leave the island where these friends wait to be called into being by a child. After a day exploring the world and being scared, Beekle climbs a tree and cries. It is then that he meets Alice and the two become friends. The book is told exclusively from
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gave the book 5 stars and rated the book as appropriate for ages 3 and up with an A+ rating for educational value. In a starred review Mary Elam, writing in
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befriends. Santat gives credit to his editor, Connie Hsu, for helping him with the story and for calming him about how the book would be received.
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was predominantly created digitally, with Santat stating that it was "probably a good 80% digital and 20% traditional". According to
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are a departure from the more action-oriented illustrations Santat had been known for creating. The book drew comparisons to
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and tells the story of an imaginary friend in search of a child. This is the third book Santat has written, following
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ALDAMA, FREDERICK LUIS (2016). "The
Wondrous Sights, Sounds, and Imaginary Journeys Created by Dan Santat".
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Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear
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magazine, July–Aug. 2015, pp. 55+. Accessed 30 December 2018.
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was announced, but years later it was quietly cancelled.
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The book received mostly positive critical reception.
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Elam, Mary (April 1, 2014). "Adventures of Beekle".
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119:picture book
113:
112:
111:
18:
1289:Smoky Night
1139:Ox-Cart Man
133:(2004) and
1608:Categories
1570:Watercress
1490:Locomotive
1119:Noah's Ark
757:Many Moons
620:Locomotive
459:January 4,
434:January 4,
398:. Hornbook
323:Dan Santat
279:January 4,
233:References
150:Background
123:Dan Santat
117:is a 2014
105:1023214260
43:Dan Santat
1239:Lon Po Po
1090:1976–2000
829:1951–1975
688:1938–1950
135:Sidekicks
49:Publisher
1319:Rapunzel
1219:Owl Moon
377:Deadline
302:(1): 47.
1580:Hot Dog
1420:Flotsam
1259:Tuesday
1209:Hey, Al
1159:Jumanji
611:Awards
274:GeekDad
1593:(2024)
1583:(2023)
1573:(2022)
1563:(2021)
1553:(2020)
1543:(2019)
1533:(2018)
1523:(2017)
1513:(2016)
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1493:(2014)
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1242:(1990)
1232:(1989)
1222:(1988)
1212:(1987)
1202:(1986)
1192:(1985)
1182:(1984)
1172:(1983)
1169:Shadow
1162:(1982)
1152:(1981)
1149:Fables
1142:(1980)
1132:(1979)
1122:(1978)
1112:(1977)
1102:(1976)
1081:(1975)
1071:(1974)
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730:(1941)
720:(1940)
710:(1939)
707:Mei Li
700:(1938)
582:May 3,
530:May 3,
402:May 3,
356:May 3,
75:Awards
39:Author
1309:Golem
425:(PDF)
352:. NPR
67:Pages
633:2015
584:2018
558:2018
532:2018
507:2018
461:2019
436:2019
404:2018
358:2018
281:2019
166:for
141:Plot
99:OCLC
86:ISBN
1590:Big
325:".
121:by
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673:e
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