The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination

K-Gr 3–This book’s fanciful pretext, fabulous wordplay, and whimsical illustrations explain and encourage imagination and inventiveness in a most intriguing manner. Even the copyright page supports the concept of the existence of the Fantastic Bureau of Imagination, stating that the illustrations were created using real and imaginary textures and that some of the figment (character) names have been changed, but others have not. The convincing explanation that this was done to keep the readers on their toes may be humorous, but it also works as a challenge to read the text with intention and study the illustrations meticulously. The story is set in the unseen Fantastic Bureau of Imagination where business is conducted by curious creatures known as figments. Here, mail delivery figment Agent Sparky explains the bureau’s mission to provide the world with all things creative from the fine arts to engineering innovations. The organization is running smoothly until the Cave of Untold Stories becomes so overpacked that an explosion seems eminent. There is an obvious solution to this impending disaster. Agent Sparky realizes that he must encourage others to share their creations and he has a new mission, recruiting additional agents for the Fantastic Bureau of Imagination. The book concludes with an invitation to create a badge, accept the mission to be creative, and invite others to join the challenge.