Boy Lost in the Maze
In this highly acclaimed and prize-winning verse novel, Joseph Coelho brilliantly blends Greek myth with a 21st century quest. In Ancient Greece Theseus makes a dangerous and courageous journey to find his father, finally meeting the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. While Theo, a modern-day teenage boy, finds himself on a maze-like quest to find his own father. Each story tells of a boy becoming a man and discovering what true manhood really means.
The path to self-discovery takes Theo through ‘those thin spaces where myth, magic and reality combine’. Doubts, difficulties and dangers must be faced as Theo discovers the man he will become.
Joseph Coelho's debut poetry collection Werewolf Club Rules won the CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award 2015. His poetry collection Overheard in a Tower Block, published by Otter-Barry Books in 2017 was shortlisted for the CLiPPA Poetry Award and longlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. His verse novel The Girl Who Became a Tree (Otter-Barry Books) was shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2021. As well as poetry, Joseph also writes plays and picture books. Joseph was the Waterstones Children's Laureate 2022-24. The Boy Lost in the Maze won the Yoto Carnegie 2024 Medal for Writing. He was awarded an OBE in 2024 and is nominated for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2025. He lives in Edinburgh.
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. She lives in Edinburgh.