Real to Me

  • 3 months ago
by Minh Lê
illustrated by Raissa Figueroa
Transcript
00:00For you, the best friend our family could imagine.
00:08M.L.
00:10To Max, I miss your face.
00:13R.F.
00:14Real to me.
00:16By Minh Le and Racer Figueroa.
00:30When you have a great friend, the rest of the world can seem to disappear.
00:50Others tried to tell me that she wasn't real, that she was just imaginary.
00:55But what did they know?
00:57We laughed together.
00:59Were brave together.
01:01Got in trouble together.
01:04And sometimes we were even quiet together.
01:07My friend was always there for me and I can't imagine anything more real than that.
01:13She was real to me.
01:15Then one morning.
01:18She was gone.
01:19I thought maybe she got up early.
01:22So I searched everywhere.
01:25But there was no one there.
01:27I couldn't imagine where she would have gone without me.
01:31Maybe the others were right all along.
01:34Maybe I did just imagine her.
01:37And yet.
01:38I missed her laugh.
01:40I missed her when I was scared.
01:42I missed getting into trouble together.
01:46And now that she was gone.
01:48It was a little too quiet.
01:51I missed my friend.
01:53I can't imagine anything more real than that.
01:56She was real to me.
02:15With time, I did make new friends and eventually.
02:19We laughed together.
02:21Were brave together.
02:24Got into trouble together and sometimes we were even quiet together.
02:29When you have great friends.
02:31The rest of the world can seem to disappear.
02:35And while a lot of time has passed since I last saw her.
02:39I still think about my first friend and wonder what she's doing now.
02:44I can only imagine.
02:47Min-Lae spent most of his childhood in the world of his imagination.
02:52Now as a grown-up, Min is the author of several children's books including Drawn Together
02:57which won the Asian Forward Slash American Pacific American Award for Literature, and
03:02Lift which was a Nisner Award nominee.
03:06His other books include Let Me Finish, The Perfect Seat, and The Blur, which School Library
03:12Journal called a must-purchase in a starred review.
03:16He was written for the New York Times The Horn Book and HuffPost.
03:21Min lives in San Diego with his wife and kids.
03:25Min-Lae Books.com.
03:28Racer Figueroa's first best friend was an imaginary golden retriever named Stan.
03:34Now she has a real dog named Ghost and they love to take walks together in the early morning
03:39light as her mind meanders to fantastical new places.
03:44Racer is the illustrator of several picture books including We Wait for the Sun which
03:48received a Coretta Scott King honor and four starred reviews.
03:53She also illustrate Oona and its sequel, Oona and the Shark, as well as Princess Unlimited
03:59Sophie and Little Star and The More and The Merrier.
04:03Racer lives in San Diego.
04:05Rizzy Fig.com.
04:07The End.