Imaginary Things / Andrea Lochen / 311 pages

"Count to 10, 20, 100, whatever it takes...you can't take back your words."  "Love 'em because they're yours...Love 'em because of their sweet selves, but most importantly, love 'em in spite of themselves."  This was Duffy's sage advice to her twenty-two year old unwed mother granddaughter.  Anna Grace Jennings has returned to stay with her grandparents after she lost her job in Milwaukee.  She had to get an injunction against her son's father, Patrick, who has bipolar disorder and is unreliable and threatening.  David, her four year old has two imaginary friends...dinosaurs.  Ana can see these imaginary friends and fears for David's safety, especially since a black shadow sometimes accompanies them. "It was one thing to see [her]child's imaginary friends, it was quite another to believe they might be becoming tangible and dangerous."  This is a most imaginative, creative approach to mother-son relationships and the importance of listening, understanding, and accepting the seeming impossible.