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Alone: The Journeys of Three Young Refugees
Each year, more than 400 minors arrive alone in Canada requesting refugee status. They arrive without their parents, accompanied by no adult at all.
Alone relates the journey of three of them: Afshin, Alain and Patricia. Their story opens a window onto the many heartbreaks, difficult sacrifices and countless hardships that punctuate their obstacle-filled path. But Alone most especially tells of the courage and resilience that these young people demonstrated before being able to finally obtain a life where threats and danger are no longer a part of their everyday existence.
Alone relates the journey of three of them: Afshin, Alain and Patricia. Their story opens a window onto the many heartbreaks, difficult sacrifices and countless hardships that punctuate their obstacle-filled path. But Alone most especially tells of the courage and resilience that these young people demonstrated before being able to finally obtain a life where threats and danger are no longer a part of their everyday existence.
144 pages, Paperback
Published May 2, 2023
3 people are currently reading
324 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
September 8, 2023
I can’t get my children’s librarians to read this book. This is no ding against the book itself. It’s top notch. Stellar. Like no other book out there. And I’ve pondered what it is exactly about this book that I cannot sell to my compatriots. Is it the fact that the predominant color on the book jacket is a sepia-esque brown? As any librarian will tell you, readers avoid sepia on covers like the plague. Or, is the problem that I’m trying to get children’s librarians to read the book and the girl on the cover looks like a teenager? Maybe it’s the fact that this is a work of nonfiction and some folks just don’t like to read nonfiction in their spare time. Whatever the case, eventually I realized that if this book is ever going to make a name for itself, then those of us who have read it are going to have to pronounce loudly and long why it is that it’s so good. Its audience, after all, isn’t adults with library science degrees. The true audience of this book is kids and middle schoolers (and teens too, if they want to). And in spite of its brown cover, it’s not dull in the least. It’s a gripping triple autobiography of three young people sent by their parents off into a very difficult world to make a better life for themselves. Read as easily as a graphic novel it sucks in its readers. This is a book that makes the refugee crisis real and pertinent in a way I’ve never seen before. You just need to know how to sell it to kids.
“You have a family, friends, a home. You go to school, and like all children, you like to play. One day, a threat appears and changes everything.” Three kids find themselves in this position. The first is Afshin who lives in Iran. When war comes to his country he can’t wait to be old enough to join the army. His parents, however, are convinced that he’ll die if he volunteers. To avoid that fate, they send him away to Canada. Meanwhile, in Burundi 13-year-old Alain’s father has been arrested. Convinced that they’re in danger, Alain’s mother takes him and his three brothers out of the country. But when she dies en route, they find themselves utterly alone in the world. Finally there is Patricia in Uganda. When her parents find out that she’s attracted to other girls, they know that she could potentially be arrested or killed for this fact. It’s best if she ends up in Canada too. Interwoven together, these three stories tell very different tales, but all with the same underlying thread. Backmatter includes a Glossary and an explanation of what happened to each of the kids after their stories here were done.
There is an aspect to this book that I didn’t really realize until I sat down and started writing this review. Mainly, that this title is technically an adaptation of a documentary. I never read the descriptions or bookflaps on the titles I read because I like to go into a book for kids without any prior knowledge about it. Usually that isn’t a problem but in the case of today’s title, by skipping the bookflap meant I also skipped the following statement: “Alone is a fully illustrated adaptation of the critically acclaimed documentary, Seuls.” If there was any indication of this inside the book, I certainly missed it. Maybe I would have been a little more clued in if the adaptation had showed its hand. But with the art of Mélanie Baillairgé combined with such an integrated storyline, I honestly hadn’t any reason to suspect. There may be a smart reason for that, though. Documentaries, like nonfiction memoirs, must take large chunks of pure information and weave a cohesive, coherent storyline out of the mere act of living. Even if the three kids in this book led exciting lives, to make their choices work in a film or a book you must ascribe meaning to them. It's a difficult process. Now add on the extra layer of adapting from film to the page, and you begin to see how impressive this story is overall.
And it IS impressive! I don’t know who the art director or designer was on this book but they just knocked it out of the park. I mentioned earlier that the book reads like a graphic novel, and a lot of that has to do with the way in which each narrative acts alongside the art. Illustrator Baillairgé utilizes a three-color scheme of just black, green, and red which works exceedingly well. The ways in which she might use negative space or use the colors to flicker across characters’ faces like reflected lights is amazing. I’ve read so many nonfiction chapter books for kids where the design was dull and stilted and bored me on contact. With this book, every time I turn to a new page I get sucked in by the art first and foremost and end up reading page after page again.
Then there’s the writing itself. Since each storyline is told in the first person I was a bit worried that I’d get confused about who was speaking at what time. I needn’t have worried. Paul Tom may be the one adapting these kids’ stories but there’s something about their individual personalities that shines through. Each one has left their home country for a different reason. All of them have traveled to Canada. Paul Tom will then occasionally speak directly to the young reader, putting them in the shoes of these characters. “You’ve finally managed to reach Canada after risking your life. You wish you could rest, but your journey is far from over. Your path is still littered with obstacles.”
So! The million dollar question: How do you sell this book to a young readership? Because like I say, just telling them it’s three refugee memoirs of kids making their way alone in the world is not necessarily going to cut it. Now you certainly could hand this to a kid with an autobiography assignment, but let’s look outside the school homework box a bit. This is book is seriously gripping and 100% true, yet it’s so exciting that you completely forget that it’s even nonfiction. I experienced a HUGE shock when I got to the backmatter and found myself confronted with three photographs of the story’s subjects with additional information about where they are today. My suggestion then is to do a good old-fashioned booktalk when selling this to kid readers. Play up the danger. The emotion of separating from the family that loves you. You could begin by saying, “What would it take for your parents to send you off on a hugely dangerous journey to another country where you do NOT speak the language and you’re all alone . . . AND you’re the age you are right now? Can you imagine that? And can you imagine, years later, being happy that they did?” Then show them the insides. The visual details. The readability. The fact that it isn’t a million pages long. I bet you could get them clamoring for it. You just need to sell it correctly.
One question folks may have about this book is whether or not it’s truly for kids are better for teens. The protagonists do start out at 13 and 16, after all. Even so, I noticed that in terms of the content there isn’t much violence and certainly no sexual trafficking or abuse. The kids suffer, but it’s of loneliness for their homes and families. The story is gripping and sometimes a parent might die but overall it has happy endings at the end. The reason to read it, though, is that as a kid you can’t help but read this book and put yourself in Afshin, Alain, and Patricia’s shoes. Alone goes out of its way to make you feel, growing empathy in the process. You won’t lack for refugee stories in your children’s libraries and bookstores these days, but if you truly want to help kids to understand what other people are going through, Alone is a wonderful place to start. A visual stunner, gripping storyline, and heartbreaker of a title. Nothing else like it out there. Nothing at all.
“You have a family, friends, a home. You go to school, and like all children, you like to play. One day, a threat appears and changes everything.” Three kids find themselves in this position. The first is Afshin who lives in Iran. When war comes to his country he can’t wait to be old enough to join the army. His parents, however, are convinced that he’ll die if he volunteers. To avoid that fate, they send him away to Canada. Meanwhile, in Burundi 13-year-old Alain’s father has been arrested. Convinced that they’re in danger, Alain’s mother takes him and his three brothers out of the country. But when she dies en route, they find themselves utterly alone in the world. Finally there is Patricia in Uganda. When her parents find out that she’s attracted to other girls, they know that she could potentially be arrested or killed for this fact. It’s best if she ends up in Canada too. Interwoven together, these three stories tell very different tales, but all with the same underlying thread. Backmatter includes a Glossary and an explanation of what happened to each of the kids after their stories here were done.
There is an aspect to this book that I didn’t really realize until I sat down and started writing this review. Mainly, that this title is technically an adaptation of a documentary. I never read the descriptions or bookflaps on the titles I read because I like to go into a book for kids without any prior knowledge about it. Usually that isn’t a problem but in the case of today’s title, by skipping the bookflap meant I also skipped the following statement: “Alone is a fully illustrated adaptation of the critically acclaimed documentary, Seuls.” If there was any indication of this inside the book, I certainly missed it. Maybe I would have been a little more clued in if the adaptation had showed its hand. But with the art of Mélanie Baillairgé combined with such an integrated storyline, I honestly hadn’t any reason to suspect. There may be a smart reason for that, though. Documentaries, like nonfiction memoirs, must take large chunks of pure information and weave a cohesive, coherent storyline out of the mere act of living. Even if the three kids in this book led exciting lives, to make their choices work in a film or a book you must ascribe meaning to them. It's a difficult process. Now add on the extra layer of adapting from film to the page, and you begin to see how impressive this story is overall.
And it IS impressive! I don’t know who the art director or designer was on this book but they just knocked it out of the park. I mentioned earlier that the book reads like a graphic novel, and a lot of that has to do with the way in which each narrative acts alongside the art. Illustrator Baillairgé utilizes a three-color scheme of just black, green, and red which works exceedingly well. The ways in which she might use negative space or use the colors to flicker across characters’ faces like reflected lights is amazing. I’ve read so many nonfiction chapter books for kids where the design was dull and stilted and bored me on contact. With this book, every time I turn to a new page I get sucked in by the art first and foremost and end up reading page after page again.
Then there’s the writing itself. Since each storyline is told in the first person I was a bit worried that I’d get confused about who was speaking at what time. I needn’t have worried. Paul Tom may be the one adapting these kids’ stories but there’s something about their individual personalities that shines through. Each one has left their home country for a different reason. All of them have traveled to Canada. Paul Tom will then occasionally speak directly to the young reader, putting them in the shoes of these characters. “You’ve finally managed to reach Canada after risking your life. You wish you could rest, but your journey is far from over. Your path is still littered with obstacles.”
So! The million dollar question: How do you sell this book to a young readership? Because like I say, just telling them it’s three refugee memoirs of kids making their way alone in the world is not necessarily going to cut it. Now you certainly could hand this to a kid with an autobiography assignment, but let’s look outside the school homework box a bit. This is book is seriously gripping and 100% true, yet it’s so exciting that you completely forget that it’s even nonfiction. I experienced a HUGE shock when I got to the backmatter and found myself confronted with three photographs of the story’s subjects with additional information about where they are today. My suggestion then is to do a good old-fashioned booktalk when selling this to kid readers. Play up the danger. The emotion of separating from the family that loves you. You could begin by saying, “What would it take for your parents to send you off on a hugely dangerous journey to another country where you do NOT speak the language and you’re all alone . . . AND you’re the age you are right now? Can you imagine that? And can you imagine, years later, being happy that they did?” Then show them the insides. The visual details. The readability. The fact that it isn’t a million pages long. I bet you could get them clamoring for it. You just need to sell it correctly.
One question folks may have about this book is whether or not it’s truly for kids are better for teens. The protagonists do start out at 13 and 16, after all. Even so, I noticed that in terms of the content there isn’t much violence and certainly no sexual trafficking or abuse. The kids suffer, but it’s of loneliness for their homes and families. The story is gripping and sometimes a parent might die but overall it has happy endings at the end. The reason to read it, though, is that as a kid you can’t help but read this book and put yourself in Afshin, Alain, and Patricia’s shoes. Alone goes out of its way to make you feel, growing empathy in the process. You won’t lack for refugee stories in your children’s libraries and bookstores these days, but if you truly want to help kids to understand what other people are going through, Alone is a wonderful place to start. A visual stunner, gripping storyline, and heartbreaker of a title. Nothing else like it out there. Nothing at all.
June 29, 2023
This heart wrenching graphic novel that brings attention to such an important issue was amazing. I also love that it’s an adaptation of a documentary, which I think is a unique hook. Definitely an important book to read that touches on courage, resilience, and finding a new home alone as a child.
June 8, 2023
Great quick read about an important topic. The choice to place all the action in the present tense gives the story a real sense of immediacy. You feel the characters urgency. The illustrations are done in a limited palette suggesting the limitations placed upon these young people. All in all a great choice for middle and high schools students.
October 18, 2023
Stories from 3 teens who fled war and persecution in their home countries -- Iran, Uganda and Burundi -- and eventually found refuge in Canada. Touching, moving and eye-opening.
March 24, 2023
A great read for middle school age kids (and mature upper elementary ones, too), this is a true story of three courageous refugee teens who make their way to Canada following dangerous and scary paths. It is inspiring, a good choice for increasing empathy and understanding about why so many have to leave their homes and find a safe haven elsewhere.
July 12, 2024
This will be on the top of list for class read alouds. So much depth and authenticity to these stories.
I was given the English version (accidentally) as a gift so will likely read in the original language (French) and use when teaching FSL.
I was given the English version (accidentally) as a gift so will likely read in the original language (French) and use when teaching FSL.
January 30, 2025
Wonderful Story of Three Migrants
Moving stories of three migrants to Canada who came as children and built successful lives. Very important to hear about.
Moving stories of three migrants to Canada who came as children and built successful lives. Very important to hear about.
January 11, 2025
Wow. This simple yet profound book is a gem. I think it took me 20 min to read, but now I want to know so much more. Afshin came from Iran - the country was at war, and he was in danger. Alain came from Kenya when his family was attacked and his mom died. 16-year-old Patricia's life was in danger in Uganda when it was discovered she was gay. This book - based on a documentary (in French) called "Suels" - is just a snippet of the 400 young people that arrive in Canada each year, without their parents, to seek asylum.
January 1, 2025
The struggle of the refugees as they leave all they know and love behind to try to forge a new life in Canada is so heartbreaking. Wonderfully presented in short and succinct storytelling. Beautifully translated. An excellent read.
February 21, 2023
Très inspirant
October 5, 2024
There is no going back. You have to keep moving forward at all costs, even though you have no way of knowing what tomorrow will bring or if you'll ever reach your destination.
Alone is a book that fearlessly and humanistically takes on some of the most challenging and at times controversial topics in the twenty-first century: immigration, asylum-seekers, war, homophobia, and wealth disparities across individuals and nations. While treatises could and have been written on each of these topics, Alone gives deep insight into these not through complex verbiage and draw-out explanations but through simply telling true stories of children who have lived through these experiences. It gives voice to these issues by giving voice to the very real people affected by them, and it does so using pictures no less!
The format, which plays with the line between graphic novel and prose, makes this book deeply meaningful while remaining accessible to most readers. Pairing texts and images not only helps readers connect with characters they can see in front of them, but it also sends a clear message—these conversations and topics, while challenging, are for everyone. Everyone should understand and wrestle with the human side of conflict and asylum seeking, a disposition all too hard to come by in a Western culture driven by outrage and fear spurred by dehumanized numbers and lacking empathy.
In opposition to presentations of refugees as just numbers or sad stories, Paul Tom invites readers into a real and realistic view of refugee children. Like any child, these children love their families and friends. They like to play outside, and staying still in one place for a long time is challenging. They want to be able to communicate and build relationships with the people around them. Their parents love them and would only part with them if it really was in their best interest. They have aspirations for their future. They have practices, relationships, and norms that are unique to their own cultures and contexts.
They have all these things stripped away as they journey to Canada. They seek safety and support but often encounter opposition, homesickness, bureaucracy, and unwelcome change. This story, however, resists a narrative that might see these children as sob stories to simply shake one's head at and feel badly about. Rather, as we meet Afshin, Alain, and Patricia, we learn about their joys and triumphs alongside their challenges. We see their resilience. Ultimately, we learn that establishing a life in a new country isn't easy, and maybe never gets easy, but it comes with hope, kindness, and new excitements with the losses.
Even as we track all three children through a similar journey, from birth-country, to traveling, to Canada, to the aftermath of moving, the stories are far from the same. Each has wildly different stories, different pushes and pulls, different contexts they're coming from, and different experiences when they arrive. In fact, other than that they have all moved to Canada as unaccompanied minors, if our characters met, they might have a hard time recognizing much similarity between their stories. This book, from its very structure of following three stories, while noting that there are thousands of unique stories that follow this same basic journey, pushes against a single story of an immigrant or refugee.
As readers step into this book, we are thus invited into the stories of three young people that are humanizing, critical, and subversive to our all-too-dominant narrative of refugees and immigrants. This is, therefore, a great book for readers of all interests and backgrounds, from students just starting to get a handle on reading extended books on their own to adults who could tackle a Russian novel with comfort.
December 30, 2023
In Alone: The Journey of Three Young Refugees by Paul Tom and Mélanie Baillairgé, we follow three teenagers, each from different countries, who flee their homes in an attempt to live safely in Canada.
The graphic novel was thoughtfully sectioned into common moments in the refugees’ journeys instead of having one section per refugee, which made the reading experience more dynamic and was helpful to compare and contrast between stories. Each teen had a unique reason to flee their country.
Each story felt honest and raw. There wasn’t much holding back which made it a highly impactful read. These are true stories and the ending allows the reader to know what each refugee is up to since these stories. This was a particularly thoughtful touch.
This story made me go through an emotional range. Having no shared experiences with the characters, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to connect to them much. However, every character had such relatable emotions that I truly believe anyone could connect to these brave souls.
I don’t say this often: this is a MUST read for everyone.
The graphic novel was thoughtfully sectioned into common moments in the refugees’ journeys instead of having one section per refugee, which made the reading experience more dynamic and was helpful to compare and contrast between stories. Each teen had a unique reason to flee their country.
Each story felt honest and raw. There wasn’t much holding back which made it a highly impactful read. These are true stories and the ending allows the reader to know what each refugee is up to since these stories. This was a particularly thoughtful touch.
This story made me go through an emotional range. Having no shared experiences with the characters, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to connect to them much. However, every character had such relatable emotions that I truly believe anyone could connect to these brave souls.
I don’t say this often: this is a MUST read for everyone.
October 22, 2024
i think this would be such an excellent book to use to teach children about refugees and how similar they can be sometimes to our own lives. i think the best part was at the end learning that these were all real people and seeing where they are now.
it's a quick read with interesting visuals and little to no boring parts. i feel like this could be great for a reluctant reader.
it's a quick read with interesting visuals and little to no boring parts. i feel like this could be great for a reluctant reader.
December 1, 2024
When I selected this book, due to its subject, concept, accolades and extremely positive reviews, I somehow did not realize that it was a children's/youth's book....primarily...I THINK...as, having said that, I found it magical, poignant and unique in its creativity and truth. The wonderful illustrations were a bonus!
I am so glad I read it.
I am so glad I read it.
October 4, 2025
This book made quite a statement with the limited use of colors, lots of black and limited text on each page. The stories made quite an impact, as we can only begin to imagine what these young people went through as they tried to leave behind their homes to come to Canada, often without parents. An eye opening read.
December 29, 2025
This book was truly excellent. It shows you the hard journeys that they children go through as refugees.
It gave me a lot to think about. The art & illustrations throughout this book were also very heavy and drew you into the painful stories which these children had to live.
I’ll be re-reading this book and giving it to my 13 year old son to read.
It gave me a lot to think about. The art & illustrations throughout this book were also very heavy and drew you into the painful stories which these children had to live.
I’ll be re-reading this book and giving it to my 13 year old son to read.
August 4, 2023
Told in alternating perspectives, this is the story of three young immigrants from different parts of the world, who traveled to Canada alone. All three have different reasons for their journey, but found a welcome in Canada. The stories are accompanies by gorgeous art and read like fiction.
November 30, 2023
Filled with abstract art this book follows the lives of three refugees as they face war and danger in their own countries. How their parents made sacrifices to help them leave and travel to Canada to find peace and a better life. The narration is simple and touching and their lives are inspiring.
January 4, 2024
The format makes this quite unique, but I'm not sure the cover is that appealing to kids. It's a shame because the story is worthwhile and the voices are compelling in such a way that I had to double check that I was reading nonfiction.
February 5, 2024
While this is a story that can be finished very fast, it intrigues the reader to both get involved in the process of helping refugees, empathizing more with those that made the journey, and encouraging further exploration of the topic.
June 28, 2024
Absolutely powerful stories of the bravery and resilience required to leave home and family to seek safety in a new country. Compelling images demonstrate the solitude and loneliness and beauty and wonder of their journeys.
May 20, 2023
Very powerful perspective. Read this while my son was playing at the library. Took maybe 1/2 hr. bc it was so good.
August 8, 2023
although its short, it's a powerful and emotional read
September 4, 2023
What a nice book describing the harrowing, and painful journey of minor immigrants. The design of the book was very nice.
December 18, 2023
3 stories broken down into heartbreaking chapters of the refugee journey. I couldn't put it down.
March 9, 2024
MGM 2024- refugee/immigrant story
March 18, 2024
Beautiful story
I would recommend this book to anyone confused on the immigration issues and see the sacrifices these individuals have had to make
I would recommend this book to anyone confused on the immigration issues and see the sacrifices these individuals have had to make
November 27, 2024
A beautiful graphic novel following three child refugees each settling into Canada. Great illustrations. Really enjoyed.
March 26, 2025
Short and easily accessible for middle grade readers.
November 29, 2023
I thought this was a really original book: it follows the journeys of three refugees from different areas of the world through the different parts of their journeys. Each person's story was so different, but you can easily trace the through-lines common to them all: overcoming adversity, hope in the face of despair.
The art is stunning, and the text is sparse, making this a very accessible book for all readers in the middle school classroom, even those newer to English (or the country). It would be a perfect pairing for Inside Out and Back Again (Thanha Lai), Other Words for Home (Jasmine Warga) or Escape from Syria (also in graphic format, by Samya Kullab).
The art is stunning, and the text is sparse, making this a very accessible book for all readers in the middle school classroom, even those newer to English (or the country). It would be a perfect pairing for Inside Out and Back Again (Thanha Lai), Other Words for Home (Jasmine Warga) or Escape from Syria (also in graphic format, by Samya Kullab).
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews