The Girl Who Became a Tree: A Story Told in Poems

Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2021

Daphne is unbearably sad and adrift. She feels the painful loss of her father acutely and seeks solace both in the security of her local library and the escape her phone screen provides by blocking out the world around her. As Daphne tries to make sense of what has happened she recalls memories of shared times and stories past, and in facing the darkness she finds a way back from the tangle of fear and confusion, to feel connected once more with her friends and family.

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.

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. Kate is particularly passionate about libraries; she continues to be involved with every kind of activity from Storytime for toddlers to teen reading groups at her local library. Her book It’s a No-Money Day (2019, Barrington Stoke), was shortlisted for the Greenaway Medal.

Joseph Coelho is a performance poet and playwright. His debut poetry collection Werewolf Club Rules won the CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award 2015. His collection Overheard in a Tower Block (Otter-Barry Books, 2017) was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the CLiPPA. The Girl Who Became a Tree (Otter-Barry Books, 2021) was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and won the Bologna Ragazzi Award for Poetry. Joseph became the UK Waterstones Children’s Laureate in 2022.