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Our text set Imagination in Lonely Children was inspired by The Only Child. This is a realistic look into how children cope with the feeling of loneliness. It dives deeper into skills children develop to keep themselves company and safe. These books can be used in a classroom to make students feel included and identify the complex emotion within themselves.

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The Only Child by Guojing (Author/ Illustrator) 

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The Only Child by Guojing (Author/ Illustrator) 

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Summary: The Only Child follows a young girl who is left alone at home a lot while their parents go to work. One day she decides to take the bus to visit her grandma but falls asleep and gets lost. In the woods, she meets a stag who protects her and keeps her company. Later in the story, the stag guides her back to her parents.

Connection: Being an only child can be very lonely, especially when there is no one to talk to or play with. In reality, the stag was never there but she used her imagination to keep herself safe and company. This is alluded to when she falls asleep with a toy stag in her hand.

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Draw! by Raúl Colón (Author/ Illustrator)

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Draw! by Raúl Colón (Author/ Illustrator)

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Summary: The story starts with a boy in his bedroom reading a book about Africa when he begins to daydream and his imagination takes him on an adventure. With a pencil and easel in hand, he starts to draw what he sees such as a gigantic elephant in the plains.  Soon after the pleased elephant takes the boy on a tour of the land, where the pair encounter a variety of safari animals; calm zebras, stampeding giraffes, a curious ape, and an angry rhino. In the end, we are back in the boy’s bedroom, which has sketches of what he has seen all over the floor. He presented the following day at school to his classmates.

Connection: The connection to the theme was the presentation of an adventure into the imagination for a lonely child whose outlet was done through the arts. A lonely child can have many forms of outlets whether that be a physical form or the use of imagination.

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The Red Tree by Shaun Tan (Author/ Illustrator) 

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The Red Tree by Shaun Tan (Author/ Illustrator) 

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Summary: The young girl feels like nothing goes right in her life. She goes for a walk and describes the thoughts that run through her head. These thoughts are what contributes her to spiral and get overwhelmed. In the end, when the young girl comes home a red tree is growing in the middle of her bedroom. That symbolizes the hope she has of getting out of her dark headspace.

Connection: Throughout the story a young girl is coping with feelings of loneliness and depression on her own. In one of the images she says “who are you meant to be” and the illustration is of her drawing a picture of herself on a wall. The illustrations correlate with her descriptions of how she feels.

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Oliver by Birgitta Sif (Author/ Illustrator)

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Oliver by Birgitta Sif (Author/ Illustrator)

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Summary: We are introduced to Oliver, a unique child who spends time in his own imagination accompanied by his handheld puppet’s friends and toys. Together, they would go on adventures across the living room rather than be part of his family gatherings. Oliver would play alone under the table during those times and when he tried to make an effort, by playing the piano for his friends, no one bothered to listen. Oliver felt the difference all over again, but the next day, when playing tennis alone, his ball bounced and bounced away.  It landed near a girl, Olivia, who was playing tennis alone and felt just as different and lonesome as Oliver. In the end, Oliver and Olivia decided to host their own puppet shows together as new friends that they’ve become. Oliver is left with the realization that it’s ok to be different and that we are all odd in our own way, but there's always someone there to share it with.

Connection: The story speaks directly to those of us who are introverted and who feel a bit different too. Oliver lives in a world that may seem lonely, but he moves along using his imagination and creativity with physical forms of comfort, his puppets, and toys. The colors are also muted and the backgrounds on the pages are softly colored making for when Oliver may be feeling lonely. Oliver wants company and achieves that in the end with a real-life friend while still being his unique self.

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Your Turn Adrian by Helena Oberg (Author) and Kristin Lidstorm (Illustrator)

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Your Turn Adrian by Helena Oberg (Author) and Kristin Lidstorm (Illustrator)

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Summary: Adrian has no friends and is always nervous to go to school. He gets bullied in and out of class. Adrian uses his imagination to keep himself company. Later he meets a dog named Heidi who helps keep the feeling of loneliness at bay. They become inseparable until Heidi is reunited with her owner Adrian’s sense of loneliness begins to return until by chance they are reunited again.
Connection: The story changed from black and white to color depending on Adrian’s mood. When he feels lonely the illustrations are black and white but when he meets Heidi the stray dog the illustrations are in color. Adrian uses his imagination to occupy himself when he has those strong feelings of loneliness or when he is getting teased by other students.

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What Do You Do With A Problem? by Kobi Yamada (Author) and Mae Besom (Illustrator)

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What Do You Do With A Problem? by Kobi Yamada (Author) and Mae Besom (Illustrator)

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Summary: A young child discovers that a “trouble”, depicted as a little, dark cloud, has emerged out of nowhere and won't leave him alone. He tries to ignore the cloud at first and soon tries to shoo it away. Nothing works and soon the cloud grows larger as the boy frets over it. He begins to worry that the problem will cause harm to him or his beloved things. The dark cloud eventually turns into a storm that he can't ignore; so he decides to face the issue head-on. Soon after he has come to realize that problems are necessarily “trouble” but rather opportunities for growth.

Connection: Children today experience stress and anxiety and the image of this dark cloud may feel very familiar where the problem rests solely on their shoulder. The little boy uses his imagination to depict the struggles he’s going through in his life. Making for a lonely state of feeling, but in the end it also challenges, shapes, pushes, and helps us to discover just how strong and brave and capable we really are. A strong message for those feelings alone in the world.

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Pool by JiHyeon Lee (Author/ Illustrator)

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Pool by JiHyeon Lee (Author/ Illustrator)

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Summary: The Pool book is about a boy that goes swimming at a public pool. He seemed afraid of being around other children. Then he swam, dipped down the pool, and found a friend. They imagined ocean animals, like fish and white big whales and other creatures.

Connection: The connection that I found with the story The Pool and Then Only Child are two children that both felt lonely but they imagined themselves playing with animals. In Pool, the boy imagines himself swimming with sea animals. The animals in both stories act as guides one being a whale and in The Only Child, the little boy also imagines a stag.

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Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (Author/ Illustrator)

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Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (Author/ Illustrator)

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Where the Wild Things Are

Summary: The book Where the Wild Things Are, is a story about a little boy named Max. One night he was not behaving then his mom called him a wild thing, he told his mom "I will eat you up". His mom sent him to bed without eating dinner. That night a forest grew in this room. Then there was an ocean with a private boat for Max. All year he arrived in the wild and the wild thing ward. They tried to scare Max, but he told them to stay still.  He became king of all wild things. He sent the wild things to sleep and then he was left feeling lonely. He wanted to be with people like him and he gave up on being king. The wild thing cried because they did not want him to leave and they got angry at Max. He eventually left in his private boat back home.

Connection: Where the Wild Things Are follows a boy who feels lonely and misunderstood. Max feels like he never received the right attention from his mom. To cope with the strong feeling of loneliness he imagines he's somewhere else.

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Journey by Aaron Becker (Author/ Illustrator)

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Journey by Aaron Becker (Author/ Illustrator)

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Summary: The Journey is a book about a girl who is asking for attention from her family members. The mom is cooking and on the phone. The dad is in his office working and her sister is reading a book. She ends up going to her room and imagines herself opening a red door and entering a beautiful forest. She walked to a lake and got in a red boot. She travels using different types of transportation like a red air balloon and a big airplane. She then gets on a red flying carpet, and at night she was able to fly. Then there were four doors, and the one pick she found a friend.

Connection: The main character felt lonely when she tried to computer the attention of her family members. Since they were all busy the main character creates a new world with her imagination. She does this to not feel alone and enters a magical place.