My 8 year old read this book. He said it was very adventurous and that he loved it although I would say it was for slightly older, maybe around 10 year old.

Totally brilliant story which had me and the ten year old transfixed. Making things come true from your Imagination and the repercussions is an excellent theme and the dialogue is epic.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review
I loved it

This book is all manner of delightful - the writing, the characters, the themes are great. What it says about friendship is very special. You will love Oleg and Emma who are best friends, and the cast of characters who inhabit their school and families. Yet beneath this energetic middle grade story where the most improbable and impossible things happen, is an accurate reflection of modern day life. These kids have hard lives, who deal courageously with debt, poverty, food insecurity, grief, disappointment, bullying, gender stereotypes, the list goes on. Nevertheless, these themes do not overwhelm, rather they add nuance to the story and ground the more fantastical elements.

"‘We were wondering how much you might know about things that don’t make sense,’ she said."

As per the title, this book is about an impossible boy, someone created out of imagination, materialised into the lives of two school children. Oleg and Emma are best friends who miss the dynamic of when they were a trio and leap at the idea of filling that gap with a worthy replacement. Their wish and hard work come true, but with it come a rollercoaster ride of oddness that would be disturbing if it wasn't also funny beyond belief.

‘Sebastian?’ asked Emma. ‘You don’t know any snowmen, do you?’ Oleg had no idea what she was talking about. ‘Not currently,’ answered Sebastian Cole. ‘All the snowmen I’ve ever known are puddles now.’

The ideas are fab, the writing is brilliant. The descriptions were so clear that it hit you in the heart or made you laugh up a storm.
"Oleg missed his old dad and was afraid of the new dad that had taken his place. The new dad was a snoring monster. The scariest thing about the monster was how much it looked like his old dad,"

"‘I’m right here,’ said Elissa Goober, through her tears. ‘I can hear you.’ She blew her nose. It sounded like a bowl of soup being thrown at a wall."


We get a real view of parents, great observations of people in general and accurate truisms
‘Feeling bad doesn’t help the other person. Feeling bad just proves you knew you shouldn’t have done it in the first place.’.

I really liked this book. There is so much in it, that it's difficult to pin down to a few but I'll do my best. Friendship, Family and Resilience. It's about standing up for what you believe in and not giving up even when it's very hard and would be easier to do so. And doing this whilst you are a kid and shouldn't have to and don't have the experience or tools to address these issues easily.

The Impossible Boy is sweet, tender, and very, very funny

The Impossible Boy is the perfect fantasy adventure with just enough reality to make the reader question whether the actions that occur are actually impossible. The story centres around Oleg and Emma, best friends who delight in creating a new classmate - Sebastian - to fill the third friend void in their lives. Together they cultivate stories about Sebastian's lives, each one seemingly more impossible and ridiculous than the rest, but when Sebastian appears, from a spaceship, in their secret den, it seems like they might have created a kind of reality after all.

Ben Brooks has sprinkled this book with absolute madness throughout which makes it perfect for reading out loud. Sebastian is exactly the kind of character we all made up as children, the impossible imaginary friend,, which makes it so wonderful when he enters Oleg and Emma's world. Add that to the mysterious mirrored vans that begin appearing, complete with masked crows who are on the hunt for Sebastian and this is a story not only action-packed but quite hilarious in parts too.

From a teacher's perspective I loved the fact that Ben obviously knew his audience inside out. Oleg and Emma's Year 6 class are exactly like a Year 6 class should be and I know that I am exactly like Mr Clay when they ask me question after question in an effort to stall the lesson! It was also refreshing to share Oleg and Emma's backgrounds - Emma with her mum who works so hard yet earns so little and Oleg's dad who has little interest in what his son is up to. Both important and thought-provoking family situations which were covered sensitively and realistically through the story.

The Impossible Boy is a great mash-up of genres - fantasy, sci-fi and superhero-esque in places too. It would make a great read-aloud in the classroom and an excellent recommendation for those who enjoyed the humour of My Brother is a Superhero or Land of Roar.

A fast-paced, crazy adventure including talking snowmen, a cowboy caretaker and just enough grasp on reality.

‘The Innocent Boy’ is a very captivating story about two children who make up a story about an imaginary third friend after their real friend left the area. It explores kindness and friendship between the children and their imaginary friend who becomes real and tells the story of his capture and rescue from enemies who wanted to harm him. The friend is eventually saved by a clever plan from the children’s grandmother. In the words of my ten year old grandson (nearly eleven, Grandad!), who read the book: ‘It was hard to put down, and all you really need to know is that I read it in a few days and would definitely recommend the book to a friend.’

Oleg and Emma miss their friend Sarah Tuppet, who has moved away to the countryside, and feel like misfits in their own class. Faced with a test and a supply teacher in the final days of school before Christmas, they make up a new friend, Sebastian, and fill in a test for him. Imagine their surprise when a strange new boy appears, with the same name. When a mysterious mirrored van appears apparently tracking Sebastian, they know they need to hide him, and so begins an incredible adventure.

This is a funny and very visual novel that would make a great animated film, with eccentric characters, shifting locations and flights of fantasy that should appeal to the target readership. Central to the novel is the relationship between Oleg and Emma, as they come to terms with the uncertainty of their last year at primary school and the challenges that face both their families. It is an uplifting story that reinforces the value of friendship, of not judging at face value and the potential for us to achieve what we want to do. It took me a few chapters to become completely engaged in the book, but I enjoyed it so much more than I expected from the first few pages. There are plenty of readers in our school that this will appeal to.