Yes, I am going to go on as if this fun little imagination series of posts was not Rudely Interrupted by reality. So I’m sorry I’ve been gone but really; in the words of Han Solo “It’s not my fault.”

Imagination is a very powerful tool. So very powerful that it is important to remember to use it mindfully. Not carefully, imagination should be allowed to soar and swoop and go to places never before visited . . . but mindfully.

Sam, Bangs & Moonshine is the story of a fisherman’s daughter Sam (Samantha) who has a expansive imagination. She tells people her mother is a mermaid, that she owns a kangaroo and she talks to her cat (Bangs) who understands and talks back.

Sam spends her days riding in her dragon-drawn chariot and telling her friend Thomas to go to different places to search for the kangaroo (who’s always just stepped out).

Her father tells Sam all the time to “talk real” and “stop all the moonshine”. Sam doesn’t listen much, she’s too busy playing imagining games.

One day without thinking about it, she tells Thomas that the kangaroo went out to Blue Rock, which is far out in the harbor. A bad storm blows in and puts Thomas in terrible danger.

Sam feels terrible and scared and tells her Father who rushes out into the storm and saves Thomas. Sam has learned a Valuable lesson about real and not-real. From now on she knows to use imagination in a mindful manner.

The next day Sam’s father brings her a little animal he found on a banana boat while it was unloading. She says it’s a kangaroo, he says “No, it’s a gerbil.” She takes it over to Thomas who is very sick in bed and gives it to him.

This wonderful book shows us how vital it is to not lose sight of what’s around us while we are indulging in imaginative play. Don’t put yourself or others in danger, don’t forget that something is cooking on the stove, don’t forget to cage up the baby in the playpen so it can’t hurt itself, don’t ignore the baby if it needs a change or snack, and don’t sit on the dog/cat. But also do not forget to play around in your imagination, no matter how busy your everyday life gets. Make some time to play.

I really like the illustrations in this book. The choice of doing them in pen and ink with ink washes and having only one other color (an olive green) really emphasizes that it’s the mind of the reader/imaginer that is populating this world.

Gosh, this has been a really herky-jerky post. I hope you have enjoyed Sam, Bangs & Moonshine any way. If you liked it enough to want a copy you can find a copy pretty easily on ebay or the net. I got mine years ago at a library sale — don’t you just love the library sales? So many books, so little space to put them in my little house.

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