Review: No Longer Alone by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Robyn Wilson-Owen

A young girl is labelled 'shy' by everyone she meets but, in truth, all she wants is to be left alone. When she finally opens up, it's clear that beneath her public silence is a private sadness, and talking about her feelings proves to be the remedy needed to be her true self again.

Published in 2019, this moving lyrical picture book, written by award-winning poet Joseph Coelho, tackles indirectly the sensitive themes of loss and grief through the eyes of a child. 

Coelho skillfully uses his insight and powerful imagery to show changeability in the child's behaviour, from her need to escape to an imagined world and withdraw from human contact to her intense fascination with nature and outbursts of strong emotions, such as anger.

Coelho is careful to leave the precise reason for the child's demeanour open to interpretation which means the text can be explored on different levels depending on the specific needs/maturity of children from reception through to Year 2 (PSHE). On one level, it's about the loss of a mother due to death, divorce, or long-term separation but, on another, it's a child navigating the feelings of sadness, loneliness, and worry.

What's equally wonderful is that the story is naturally inclusive. Without explicit reference to ethnicity, it celebrates a mixed-heritage extended family, showing how their close bond enables them to support each other during difficult times. Aunty and Grandma help with childcare while Dad finally recognises he has to emotionally tune in to his eldest daughter's needs, simply listening and comforting her without judgment.   

'He listens, like the sun listens to leaves, like the ocean listens to raindrops. And right now starts to feel different.'

Talented newcomer Robyn Wilson-Owen's bold yet warm illustrations in dip-pens, watercolours, and soluble graphite, perfectly support the assured text, and her gorgeous front endpapers draw you into the child's world. First, we see a side table displaying a photo of a woman with the same eyes as our young protagonist. Next, we see our protagonist standing alone in a woodland clearing, looking outwards. Who is she looking for? Is she looking for the woman in the photo? Finally, our protagonist plays hide-and-seek with a robin in a tree. Why is she always alone? Then, in the final endpapers, the child has grown emotionally during the story. She's no longer alone because her siblings have joined her in the same woodland clearing. The robin has flown away. Did she find what she was looking for? Why doesn't she need the robin anymore? 

In the first section of the book, Wilson-Owen foreshadows what's to come by adding subtle picture cues. Within the busy public scenes, we notice a small bird, an orca's skeleton, and a puddle and twig. Within the child's private world, these images extend into an imagined flock of 'birds talked out of the sky', whales in a 'sea storm', and a wilderness filled with 'swamps...[and] old rotten trees.' Owen's observational detail is exquisite and each time you return to the text there's more to notice and discuss.

A simple palette of pine greens, sandy yellows, and rusty reds is used judiciously throughout, providing variety and a sense of unity all at once. I particularly loved the subtle nod to the stylised swirls in Van Gogh's The Starry Night, a window scene created by the artist at a time when he was struggling with his mental health (art and design). 

This deeply touching, comforting story is the perfect text for the traumatic times we're all currently living through. Despite the heartache, it offers us all a hopeful reminder that familial love, oneness with nature, and true self-expression are powerful healing forces for good.

No Longer Alone by Joseph Coelho and Robyn Wilson-Owen is available from Bookshop. It has also been longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2021.

Check out my Black Children's Books directory for suggested suitability of all the books I review. All books are reviewed using my Jericho Benchmark. All the books that I read are also checked against my Jericho Benchmark.