Did everyone have an imaginary friend (or just me)?: adventures in boyhood - jay ellis

Jay Ellis, star of HBOs Insecure, tells the story of growing up with an imaginary best friend you will never forget--part Dwayne Wayne from A Different World, part Will Smith from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air --in this hilarious, vulnerable memoir.

What to do when youre the perpetual new kid, only child, and military brat hustling school to school each year and everyones looking to you for answers? Make some shit up, of course! And a young Jay Ellis does just that, with help from his imaginary friend, Mikey.

A testament to the importance of invention, trusting oneself, and making space for creativity, Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend (or Just Me)? is a memoir of a kid who confided in his imaginary sidekick to navigate parallel pop culture universes (like watching Fresh Prince alongside John Hughes movies or listening to Ja Rule and Dave Matthews) to a lifetime of birthday disappointment (being a Christmas-season Capricorn will do that to you) and hoop dreams gone bad.

Mikey also guides Ellis through tragedies, like losing his teenage cousin in a mistaken-target drive-by and the shame and fear of being pulled over by cops almost a dozen times the year he got his drivers license.

As his imaginary friend morphs into adult consciousness, Ellis charts an unforgettable story of looking inward to solve to some of lifes biggest (and smallest) challenges, told in the roast-you-with-love voice of your closest homey.