The Girl Who Became a Tree

The Girl Who Became a Tree is a powerful and mesmerising exploration of grief and renewal

The Girl Who Became a Tree sees Joseph Coelho deploy a wide variety of poetic forms with consummate skill in its narration of events. He seamlessly but searingly weaves together the ancient legend of Daphne, who was turned into a tree to avoid the attentions of the god Apollo, and a totally modern tale, mixing real-life and fantasy, in which a latter-day Daphne seeks her own freedom. This a heart-stoppingly imaginative story told in poems, at times bleak and even tragic, which is layered, rich and ultimately a tour de force of poetic skill and energy.

Short-listed for CILIP Carnegie Medal 2021 (UK) Short-listed for DIP DAP Award (National Literary Trust) 2023 Long-listed for UKLA Book Awards 2022

“"A brief yet challenging novel in verse that tackles the gnarly, disordered forest of the grieving process." Kirkus Reviews "It plays with form and setting in a way that invites young readers in, asserting the myth's perpetual relevance." Times Literary Supplement "Rich with metaphor and secret meaning, his poetry is deeply welcoming, and his sensibility is both mythic and urban." -- Guardian Fresh Voices: 50 Writers You Should Read Now "Finally, something slightly different. I think publishers and bookshops are missing a trick with poetry. They seem to stock poetry collections for younger children and adult poetry from the historical to the contemporary. Where is the poetry for young adults? Beyond the bookshops, there is a dynamic and diverse spoken word scene, young people articulating their lives and experiences through rhythm, rhyme, lyricism. These are poems about childhood belonging, separated families and the stories we build when there are gaps we can't know. My teenage daughter and I have read them together. " -- Waterstones.com, Top 5 Young Adult Reads of 2017 "Ingenious...Kate Milner's extraordinary line drawings express the underlying strangeness." -- Sunday Times , Children's Book of the Week "A highly readable, imaginative tale with a positive message. Coelho's poems are succinct, thought-provoking and original." -- The Independent "The talented and inventive Joseph Coelho last month published The Girl Who Became a Tree , a story in verse that revisits the myth of Daphne. Set in a library...it plays with form and setting in a way that invites young readers in." -- Imogen Russell Williams, Times Literary Supplement "Showcasing the power of verse novels is Joseph Coelho's superb The Girl Who Became a Tree ...A series of rich and varied poems is accented by Kate Milner's dark, evocative art." --Fiona Noble, The Observer "The author combines intense imaginative power with brilliant poetic technique in a multi-layered story of loss, hurt, deception, recognition and ultimate reconciliation. Milner's evocative art adds further depth." --Fiona Noble, The Bookseller”

The author skilfully reworks the legend of Daphne...into a bleak and emotional YA story of loss and loneliness full of powerful imagery. It is a thought-provoking book which merges fantasy and reality, inner and outer worlds, and urban and forest landscapes. It is an emotional and complex read, but those older readers who enter the forest with Daphne as she confronts the darkness inside will emerge with her into a more hopeful world. Books for Keeps
A classic...the way Joseph has blended the modern with the mythic held me totally - I loved it. Absolutely loved it. That's what we have been waiting for. A great book...Not been so excited about a book for a long time. Pie Corbett
Very special. Multi-layered, emotionally intense, beautifully illustrated and written by a poet at the top of his game...beautifully constructed...stayed with me long after reading. Absolutely superb. Jon Biddle

Joseph Coelho is a performance poet and playwright. His collection Overheard in a Tower Block was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the CLiPPA. The Girl Who Became a Tree was first published in hardback in 2020 and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and won the Bologna Ragazzi Award for Poetry. Joseph became the UK Waterstones Children's Laureate in 2022.

Kate Milner studied illustration at Central St Martin’s before completing an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Anglia Ruskin University. Kate won the V&A Illustration Award 2016 and the Klaus Flugge Prize 2018 for My name is not Refugee. Her It's a No-Money Day was shortlisted for the Greenaway Medal.

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