SOLVED. 80s/90s Childrens Picture book about a boy with an imaginary friend (maybe a monster) with breath that smells of paper violets. [s]

[Sam]

Hello goodreads! This one has been driving me to distraction. I read this book in the UK as a child in the mid to late 90s, and I think the book was probably written in the mid to late 80s. Asides from the details laid out in the title I don't remember much, except that the monster possibly lived in the boys closet, and I think it took the boy on adventures. Over time, either because the boy got older and stopped believing or simply because he asked too much of the monster and got greedy, the monster, along with his breath, faded and disappeared.

Thanks in advance for your assistance with this!

[Becca]

Ned and the Joybaloo by Hiawyn Oram? The Joybaloo lives in the boy's airing cupboard.

Quote from a copy on archive.org:

Then one Friday night he’d gone to the airing cupboard in search of an important piece of a thing he was making and there it was, when he wasn’t expecting it, big and beautiful with a funny leathery nose and its breath full of paper roses.

[Sam]

YES!! Thank you so much!

SOLVED

[Becca]

You're welcome!