Milo and the Long Way Home — a story about kindness & belonging.

Milo is a boy who feels he doesn't quite belong, so he sets out to find a place that feels like home. Along the way he frees a frightened fox from the brambles, carries a timid rabbit across a stream, and invites a lonely old owl down from her tree — and with each kindness, a friend chooses to walk beside him. When night falls and Milo fears there's nowhere he belongs, it's his new friends who show him the truth: belonging isn't a place — it's the people who stay. They build a little home on a hill together and welcome in every lonely traveller who passes by. It closes on a gentle affirmation page: "You belong — just as you are."

Every line is original (none of Charlie Mackesy's text), the wisdom is woven into the friendships, and Milo is a new character I drew to join the same cute anime-chibi cast.