The Only Child

A New York Times Best Illustrated Book

Hailed by Entertainment Weekly and the Wall Street Journal as a best book of the year, this gorgeous and imaginative story€"part picture book, part graphic novel€"is utterly transporting and original. USA Today declared it €œa compelling and melancholy debut from an important new talent" as well as "an expansive and ageless book full of wonder, sadness, and wild bursts of imagination.€ And like Shaun Tan's The Arrival and Raymond Briggs's The Snowman, it is quickly becoming a modern classic.
 
A little girl€"lost and alone€"follows a mysterious stag deep into the woods, and, like Alice down the rabbit hole, she finds herself in a strange and wondrous world. But... home and family are very far away. How will she get back there?
 
In this magnificently illustrated€"and wordless€"masterpiece, debut artist Guojing brilliantly captures the rich and deeply-felt emotional life of a child, filled with loneliness and longing as well as love and joy.

€œA haunting, wordless, gorgeously drawn picture book.€ €"People

€œTold wordlessly through soft, dreamy illustrations, Guojing€s tale evokes the loneliness of growing up under China€s one-child policy.€ €"Entertainment Weekly

€œA dreamy, wordless debut.€ €"The New York Times

"Majestic.... Rare is the book containing great emotional depth that truly resonates across a span of ages: this is one such." €"Kirkus Reviews, Starred

"Reminiscent of Raymond Briggs€s classic, The Snowman (1978), this is quiet, moving, playful, and bittersweet all at once." €"Booklist, Starred