Minh Lê loves a good twist. The La Mesa-based author, best known for his award-winning picture books such as “Drawn Together” and “The Blur,” prides himself on putting new spins on familiar storylines.
Such is the case with Lê’s new children’s book, “Real to Me,” a clever take on imaginary friends. Dazzlingly illustrated by fellow San Diegan Raissa Figueroa, the book takes both adults and children on a journey through youthful imagination, carefully touching on themes of loneliness, abandonment and perseverance. Then, toward the end of the book, there’s that twist.
“A lot of the time I think of writing as sort of like a magic trick, there’s misdirection,” says Lê. “You’re trying to get the readers to follow you, but you want to play with their expectations.”
“It definitely hit on all the heartstrings,” adds Figueroa, ing the first time she read Lê’s original manuscript and got to the end. “I was in the car when I read it and I literally exclaimed out loud, ‘what?!’”
“For me, the twist was where the story began,” Lê continues. “The idea of how can I make this a little different. You don’t want the whole book to hinge on that twist, but hopefully it lands.”
It does, in fact, land quite well. The story of a child and a fantastical creature, “Real to Me” is a lovingly rendered, often poetic take on the friendships we inevitably grow out of. Like most good picture books aimed at children, it touches on emotional themes that will be familiar to both kids and adults. So while a child might naturally gravitate toward the tale of an imaginary friend, parents and grown-ups might find themselves feeling nostalgic about friendships that have faded with time.
“What I like about imaginary friend stories is that yes, it’s fantastical, but you can talk about real-life friend dynamics,” says Lê. “The hope when you create a book like this is that it will hit on multiple levels. There are levels that it hits on that even I didn’t anticipate; thinking about friends that you lost with or, for me, I recently lost a friend. It uncovered different and possible meanings for that sense of loss. So that mix of whimsy and fantastical, with an underlying melancholy, I think it opens the door to lots of different interpretations for readers.”
For Figueroa, she says she was particularly drawn to the friends in “Real to Me” because of her own story growing up the daughter of a military officer in San Diego.
“The words got me in the feels — just the progression of the story and the emotions of him losing her and finding new friends, it hit home for me,” says Figueroa, who also recently released another children’s book this month, “What My Daddy Loves,” an ode to Black fatherhood. “Being that my dad was in the military and I had to go to a bunch of new schools, I always had to make new friends over and over again. I’m a bit introverted and that was hard for me, so working on ‘Real to Me’ really rekindled those memories for me.”
For Lê, the inspiration for the story came from a neighbor’s child who often played with his own children while he was still living in Washington, D.C. The girl would often tell Lê about her own imaginary friend. The story really took off, however, after he moved to La Mesa in 2019 and he saw how his own children dealt with the move.
‘When I was writing the book, I was thinking about how brave it is to put yourself out there and try to make new friends,” Lê says. “We moved to California in November 2019 so my kids were moving away from all their friends and that was hard. Then the pandemic hit and they had two years where they couldn’t even make friends. So for kids who want to make that connection with others, hopefully a book like this helps give them that push they’re looking for.”
Lê had already been a fan of Figueroa’s work long before they collaborated. Back in 2020, he tweeted about being blown away by her work and wanting to live in the magical worlds she created. So when his editor asked who he had in mind to illustrate “Real to Me,” they were both pleased to discover that Figueroa was on both their lists of candidates.
“It all lined up,” Lê recalls. “As soon as I saw her work, I just dove into her portfolio. For me, as someone who writes very thin manuscripts, the hope is that you can just hand it over to the illustrator and let them play so I was just imagining what she could do with this kind of story.”
“I was a fan of his as well and when he sent that tweet, I was like, ‘oh my god, Minh (Lê) knows my work,” Figueroa adds.
The two worked on the book throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, occasionally meeting up at an outdoor space and socially distancing themselves.
“The hardest part was coming up with the creature. There were definitely some ‘Monsters, Inc.’ vibes at the beginning,” its Figueroa, referring to the popular Disney film. She adds that she went through several rounds of drawings and sketches for the big green creature at the heart of “Real to Me.”
“The story really evolved through the visuals,” adds Lê. “Raissa really gave it its flavor, this personality, by creating this whole new world.”
Now that the book is out, both Figueroa and Lê hope the book will touch anyone who has ever felt, much like they did when they were young, “shy” “quiet” and even “introverted.”
“It’s wildly more imaginative and more breathtaking than I could have possibly imagined it, but at the same time, it’s exactly the book I had in mind,” Lê continues. “Like, I couldn’t have pictured this, but somehow, it’s exactly the book I wanted to have, and that’s the magic of this collaboration.”
Combs is a freelance writer.
“Real to Me” (Minh Lê and Raissa Figueroa, Penguin Random House, 40 pages)
Warwick’s presents Raissa Figueroa and Minh Lê
When: 2:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Warwick’s, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla
ission: Free
Online: warwicks.com
