When young people put pen to paper of fingers to keys, anything is possible. At 826, the country's largest youth writing program, we know the power of students' imagination to build new worlds real and imagined. This project was inspired by Bea—the brave young girl in Paramount Pictures' IF who discovers that she can see everyone's imaginary friends—and what she boldly does with that superpower as she embarks on a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten IFs with the grown-ups who once cherished them as children.

Chapters across the 826 Network—in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New Orleans, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.—presented young people with an opportunity to share who their imaginary friends may be, what they could look like, and what they could do together. These vivid imaginings can be found in this very real book.

For more than twenty years, 826 has invited young writers to explore their dreams on the page. From an idea first imaged into being in a writing space behind a Pirate Supply Store in San Francisco, the 826 Network has grown to nine chapters across the country. Through 826 chapters and 826digital.com, more than 700,000 students each year engage in innovative writing programs and begin to live in a world in which their deepest imaginings are within reach through the transformative power of writing.