Our Incredible Imagination

How Your Brain Works

By Helena Haraštová and Dita Vopřadová

Translated by Andrew Oakland

Albatros 2025

Reviewed by Annaleise Byrd

Helena Haraštová is a writer and literary editor from the Czech Republic. Specialising in children’s non-fiction, she has written and edited over thirty children’s books to date. Dita Vopřadová is a Czech-based illustrator who studied art history with a focus on medieval art.

Our Incredible Imagination is part of a series called How Your Brain Works, aimed at children aged 6 to 9. Books in the series are hardcover, picture-book-sized and only twenty pages long, with pages of heavy cardstock – an interesting format that would no doubt aid their durability and bite-sized appeal, particularly in a school library or classroom setting. And the topics covered in this series are highly relevant in such a setting!

The book opens with the question ‘What is imagination?’ The question is answered briefly and conversationally, speaking directly to the reader: ‘Imagination is the brain’s ability to visualize things that are missing – either because they aren’t nearby or because they simply aren’t real. Your brain is able to show such things in the mind in vivid detail.’ Subsequent pages include a labelled diagram of the brain, the types of things that can be imagined, tips for improving your imagination, and imagination in art/ science/ everyday life. Other relevant topics, such as synesthesia and intrusive thoughts, are also touched on.

Each page is jam-packed with facts, diagrams, key words and illustrations, with Vopřadová’s cheerful characters adding both visual interest and humour. Rather than white, the page backgrounds are almost always yellow, pink, lilac or grey. On the final spread, there is a table of contents, definitions and suggested further reading. I would have preferred to see the table of contents at the start of the book; however, this may be a regional difference as it is a translated book.

Highly recommended – especially for schools that make a point of teaching students about their brain, as my sons’ primary school does.

Annaleise Byrd is the author of middle grade portal fantasies Losing the Plot and Down the Plot Hole, and the picture book You Are Not a Pup!