"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