7 Fantastic Picture Books That Celebrate Imaginary Friends

I love when children have imaginary friends in both real life and in books. One of my daughters did, and one didn’t.

Imaginary friends help a child feel in charge, less alone, and more able to express their emotions. Often, children will invent imaginary friends so they’ll have some else to blame for their behavior. (Smart kids!)

Whether or not your child spends time with an imaginary friend, it’s entertaining to read about kids who do in one of these fantastic picture books that feature imaginary friends.

Emma Kate

by Patricia Polacco

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I adore this sweet story about Emma Kate and her imaginary friend. These two special friends do everything together. But get ready for a surprise ending. Who is real and who is imaginary? The girl or the elephant?

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Skippyjon Jones

by Judy Schachner

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Skippyjon Jones has a BIG imagination. He visits an entire imaginary world in his closet where he is a Chihuahua named El Skippito. In this world, he and his Chihuahua friends bravely fight banditos until mama cat calls him back to reality. This hilarious book is one of my all-time picture book favorites.

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Rumple Buttercup: A Story of Bananas, Belonging, and Being Yourself

by Matthew Gray Gubler

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In Matthew Gray Gubler’s highly imaginative book, not only is the protagonist, Rumple Buttercup, a creature you’ve never seen before — he has green skin, five crooked teeth, and three strands of hair, for starters — but he has an imaginary friend named Candy Corn Carl, who’s made out of trash. Together, the friends learn about the magic of being uniquely themselves.

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Little Mole's Wish

by Sang-Keun Kim

Little Mole is lonely, so he builds a friend out of snow and confides in it. When his new comrade disappears, it will take a loving grandma and a little patience to get it back. This endearing story beautifully captures a child's innocence and magical sense of wonder.

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Dory Fantasmagory: The Real True Friend

by Abby Hanlon

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The entire Dory Fantasmagory series features a rotating cast of charming imaginary friends. In The Real True Friend, Dory is headed to her first day of school, and her older siblings tell her that she better leave her imaginary friend, Mary, at home. Dory heeds their advice, but when she meets a girl at school just as creative as she is, her siblings think she’s concocted a whole new friend.

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Little Frida

by Anthony Browne

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All sorts of wonderful picture book biographies on the beloved artist Frida Kahlo have cropped up over the years, but in Little Frida, Anthony Browne is inspired by Frida’s diary to depict the imaginary friend that kept Frida company while she recovered from polio — a girl in white who would go on to make appearances in Frida’s work.

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Ellie's Dragon

by Bob Graham

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When little Ellie finds a lovable newborn dragon on a carton of eggs in the grocery store, she takes him home to care for him. Ellie and her pet dragon Scratch grow and change until one day, Ellie seemingly outgrows her friend. With notes of “Puff the Magic Dragon,” it’s just as poignant and amusing as you’d expect.

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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2015 and updated in 2021.