• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7
• Reading age: 9 to 12

The world is facing an epidemic of loneliness.

The COVID-19 pandemic taught us new words, like isolation, quarantine and social distancing. In places like the UK and Japan, governments have appointed ministers of loneliness to examine the problem and find ways to help their citizens. What does it mean to be lonely, and what can we do about it?

Alone Together explores what superheroes can teach us about being alone, the ways kids have survived on their own and how activists in the civil rights movement took a stand against loneliness. Discover what comfort foods, sweatpants and being kind to each other have to do with loneliness.

Based on the podcast of the same name. Readers will learn about loneliness and how being alone can ultimately bring us closer together.

The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Petti Fong is a journalist, educator and author. She was a staff reporter at the Vancouver Sun, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and CBC and now writes for The Economist. Petti teaches journalism, ethics and business communications at Kwantlen University, Langara College and the University of British Columbia. During the pandemic she created and hosted a podcast with interviews from experts around the world on the topics of isolation and loneliness. The podcast, Alone Together, has been downloaded by hundreds of thousands of listeners and heard in more than 30 countries. Petti lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Petti Fong's profile page

Jonathan Dyck is an award-winning illustrator, designer and cartoonist. Since graduating from design school, he has worked with a range of clients across various applications, from editorial illustration in magazines and books to logo design and illustrations for coffee mugs, t-shirts and posters. Jonathan lives in Winnipeg, on Treaty 1 Territory and the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Jonathan Dyck's profile page

“Fong emphasizes that even when we’re alone, we’re in it together—and we can work through it together. An excellent SEL resource.”

Booklist

“Alone Together is a resource not only for preteen or teen audience but also an engaging resource for any adult. Highly Recommended.”

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

“Fascinating and far-reaching…By learning about success stories in the struggle to overcome the far-reaching effects of internal sadness and isolation, readers will gain valuable tools, insights, and knowledge linked to loneliness and how to copy with it.”

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD)

“With no tropes to lean on, Fong has taken apart the topics of “alone” and “together” that preoccupied everyone during the lockdown phase of the pandemic, and created an accessible guide to individual integrity…Fong is thoughtful in the material included but lighthearted in its rendering, and young readers will find much to consider in this “Think” series entry.”

School Library Journal (SLJ)

“A thoughtful addition to the Orca Think series…Young adults will be taken along a meandering journey to understanding loneliness in their own lives.”

Canadian Children's Book Centre (CCBC) Canadian Children’s Book News