Published on 08/17/2009

"It's Just My Imagination" teaches children self-reliance in entertaining themselves, making them use their minds to create and imagine what is possible. Setting aside video games, television, and other modern competitors for children's time, Rick Keeling reminds young boys and girls of imagination's fun appeal and powerful results. Imagination can make the simplest objects become a gateway into magical worlds, an exploration of future careers, and a process for better understanding the world.

It's Just My Imagination by Rick Keeling: Book Review

Black Rose Writing (2009)
ISBN 9780982101292
Reviewed by Madeline McElroy (8) & Sophia McElroy (6.5) for Reader Views (6/09)

Madeline: I think this book is a really good tool for parents or teachers to tell children about using their imaginations. My favorite part was when the boy was pretending the mud in the backyard was flour for baking cakes. My sister and I use play-doh to make pizza and mini cookies pretending we are Girl Scouts and pizza makers.

I really enjoyed the colorful swirly painted pictures. But, some of the words I couldn't read because the paint was too dark.

Sophia: This book has some great ideas for using my imagination. My favorite part of the book was when the little boy was signing autographs for his book at the bookstore. I love going to the bookstore and I think it would be fun to write and draw a book for kids. I liked the part when the boy was baking. I also like to pretend that I am a chef! I liked the paintings because they were pretty.

Parent: While the subject matter is a great idea, some of the writing was difficult to understand and to read aloud. My children read the book silently and then I read it to them. The book starts off with a rhyming story and then varies from page to page. It was confusing to read as you didn't know the rhythm of the story. And as previously noted, some pages have type that is very hard to read.

Reviewed by Evan Weldon (age 7) for Reader Views (5/09)

“It’s Just My Imagination” by Rick Keeling is about things kids can do with their imagination like pretending to be president while standing at the kitchen table, like jumping off a swing and pretending to fly, or like standing in front of a mirror singing with the radio and pretending there is an audience.

There is no main character in the book that you can get to know. There is a picture of a red-haired boy who does all different make-believe play, but you never even get to know his name. You can’t tell if he is a good guy or a bad guy, but he looks like he is having fun (even though his smile is always off kilter).

The illustrations in the book looked kind of splotchy and not very detailed. Each page was completely covered with the illustration, and sometimes the writing was over dark parts of the picture making it hard to read. It was difficult to tell what some of the things in the pictures were. In one part, the boy is pretending to drive an 18-wheeler, but the picture only has 16 wheels on the truck.

I recommend “It’s Just My Imagination” by Rick Keeling to people aged thirty and over because I think that all kids know how much fun it is to pretend, but some grown-ups need to be reminded how important pretend play can be for kids.