The Impossible Boy

by Leonie Agnew

Can an imaginary friend become real? A spell-binding and exciting new novel from Leonie Agnew, author of the award-winning Conrad Cooper's Last Stand.

Benjamin figures Vincent Gum can do anything.
Which I can.
I’m not possible. Yet here I am.
Ben literally pushed me out of his head and into the world.

Vincent Gum finds six-year-old Benjamin moments after an explosion and leads him through wrecked city streets to the children’s shelter. Vincent isn’t interested in hanging around to babysit, but by the time they arrive he knows that Ben, with his crazy ideas and weird imaginary games, won’t survive ten minutes there without someone to look out for him. For one thing, something sinister lurks in the dormitory cupboard, waiting to get out.

Vincent’s tough and smart. He can walk through walls and make a dead tree flower. But to the rest of the world he’s invisible — non-existent. That’s because, in his moment of need, Ben invented him.

When Ben is befriended by a gang of streetwise orphans, Vincent begins to worry. What will happen to him if Ben decides he no longer needs an imaginary friend? Will he cease to exist?

And without Vincent, what will happen to a boy with an imagination so powerful he can bring his worst nightmare to life?

I don’t have much time. I need to convince everyone I’m real. And I need to do everything soon, before I disappear forever.

Genres: Middle Grade

Paperback

First published August 29, 2016

Reviews

[Adele Broadbent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vincent is worried about Benjamin, a 6 yr old boy he found on his own after an explosion - lost in the rubble of the war torn city they live in. He is taking him to an orphanage where he hopes someone will look after him. When they arrive Vincent can see how many children there are and how little supervision there is so he decides to stick around for a bit.
A group of children, Lucky, Amos, Sophia and Zaar live in the orphanage, with Lucky as a sort of leader of them all. We find she used to have 5 in her family and she takes Benji under her wing to complete her '5'
But when Benji keeps talking to and about Vincent, they all ask who he is talking to? There's no one there! But he insists the friend who has been looking after him is real.

It's only when Benji's belief in Vincent begins to waver that Vincent wonders what he really is. Imaginary friend, ghost or maybe even an angel? If Benji's imagination has brought Vincent to life in his mind, what else does he imagine?

Children everywhere, have and still do wonder what might be hiding in the closet or wardrobe at night, and Vincent soon meets the monster in the orphanage closet.

Benji's growing uncertainty at the others insistence that Vincent is not real, and the threat from The Hanger Man from the closet, has Vincent fighting for his very existence. It's only when all seems lost that Benji finds the answer.

I was surprised at first, at how different this novel is from Leonie Agnew's others - but Wow! What an amazing concept for a story! Imagination is everything! Brilliant Kiwi fiction!

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. I did not see that coming from Leonie Agnew. Completely different from her other books which entertained while touching on serious themes. The Impossible Boy remained serious and challenging throughout dealing with the power of the imagination (imaginery friends), monsters under the bed (childhood fears in the face of trauma in real life), the ability of children to adapt and look after themselves, disparite parts coming together to survive. There aren't a lot of adult figures in this book. This is a child's world and a child's view of a war which to them is just what it is.
I have so many books on the go at once that I tend to speed read them first time through. This is definitely one that I will be going back to devour more slowly and really appreciate the many layers.

[Anne Kayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a devastatingly beautiful and moving read. I actually think 13 and 14 year-olds would enjoy this too. It would be a great novel study for a class with its themes around children in war and the use of the imagination to keep us safe/sane, or keep us in a state of fear. The descriptive language and dialogue are as gripping as the plot. As for how well characters are drawn, well, I felt so engaged with and protective of Benjamin that I had to see if he was okay at the end. This book would be a thought-provoking, useful read for any one approximately ten and over in any country. It is absolutely relevant.

[T.K. Roxborogh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in some war torn country, The Impossible Boy is an account of a group of rag-tag orphans and their 'adventures'. It's a story with a twist. A bit of magic realism and one of the most beautifully written books I've read in a while. If I didn't know it was Leonie who wrote it, I could have easily thought this story penned by Neil Gaiman. It's fun, funny, sad, breathtaking and well worth the read. It will be a fantastic read aloud to-those-who-can't-quite-manage-on-their-own children as well as independent readers right through to old ladies like me.

[Francesca Pashby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should really be a 4* book, but I marked it down, because ultimately it felt like 2 stories competing against each other to me. I thought the dystopian realism of the war zone Agnew described was fantastic, and very, very relevant to the times we live in, and the ongoing situation and status of refugees everywhere ... that part felt like it could be another 'Bone Sparrow' to me. But then there was Vincent Gum, the imaginary friend, battling cupboard monsters ... and this part of the book seemed written for a different audience. This is teetering on the edge of being a class set for group reading years 5/6 (NZ) ... a lot of potential here.

[Melinda Szymanik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review coming

[Sheryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is up for an award at present here in NZ. Clever twist, but thus far I haven't been able to 'sell it'.

[Svenja · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vincent Gum is an invisible boy helping a six-year old in the middle of a war. A fantasy story set in a war zone. Unique. (If you haven't read the publisher's blurb on this site, don't, it contains information that you don't discover in the book until past halfway).

[Lorraine Orman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is totally different to Leonie's previous two junior novels, so don't expect funny stuff in a New Zealand setting. Dramatic, thought-provoking, challenging, even startling - it's a tour-de-force you won't forget in a hurry.

[Katie Furze · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed Leonie Agnew's previous books, but this is my favourite. It's smart, imaginative, intriguing and gripping. The child characters are wonderfully real, and the writing is a pleasure to read. A fantastic books for older middle grade readers.

[Desna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. Wonderful imaginative story. We all need a Vincent in our lives.

[Tom Moffatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was impossible not to love this book. The story grabs hold of you, the prose is inspired and it’s written from the perspective of the wonderful Vincent … an imaginary friend. What’s not to love? The only downside was that, in comparison, my own imaginary friend – Trevor – seems dull and, well, rather unimaginative.

[Ben · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book made me think about how people have lots of imagination with things because this book was about a invisible boy and there was people fighting closet monsters so it was very made up and the person that made it must have had lots of imagination
quote from book
but memory flow through my head the garden hose snake Benjamin pushed me into an explosion