Fantastic Bureau of Imagination: Meditations on Life and Politics

There are a select number of authors who’s books I will buy automatically, and Brad Montague is one of them. He has yet to disappoint. The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination will delight both kids and former kids with its beautiful, in-depth illustrations (the page mapping the bureau is one of my absolute favorites), delightful story, and profound message. The saying, “The dreamers are many but the doers are few,” may haunt me forever in the best way possible. There are so many fun ways to engage this book too, including designing your own figment (my idea) and your own FBI badge (the book’s). I’d love to wax philosophical about the Cave of Untold Stories, and how we think a dragon is both guarding and hoarding it until she begs Sparky to reach out to humans, but I think you should just get the book and find your own nuggets of beauty. I’m sure you’ll discover plenty.

Our whole family loved this book! We have a 10 and 7-year-old and they each chose this book as their bedtime book last night. My 10-year old had already devoured it and wanted it read to him again. The story is humorous, encouraging, empowering, and makes the reader want to step forward in action. ‘I have something important to share with others, and they need it.’ My favorite character is Rascal the dreampuppy. I look forward to buying several more copies to have on hand for gifts and classroom library donations! Love this author/illustrator team, can’t wait for more from them.

Very sweetly illustrated. Every detail is so much fun! And what a beautiful message (actually, there’s more than one message here) and what a wonderful way to see and inspire creativity!From this former kid who is raising a current kid, I can definitely say The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination has secured a spot on our list of favorites. We’ll be hanging on to this book for a long time to come.

This book was awesome!! All about imagining and doing!!! We laughed very hard when Brenda ate Sparky (just kidding!!). The 9 year olds favorite part was Sparky’s poem that he sent out to all the world. The 5 year olds favorite was the bear in the front yard! The 7 year olds favorite part when Sparky wrote a poem about his big emotions! The 11 year old liked it (which is saying something big if you know 11 year olds!). Every family and class needs this book!!

Brad and Kristi bring life to this multi -decade woman who loves imagination and curiosity and wondering how we can make this world a better place. The art and visual appeal is stunning, and the story brings out that longing within us to be connected with one another, doing wonderful things. I’m glad I bought two so that I can pass one along to another person that needs some inspiration for their imagination.