A boy narrates some of the experiences and feelings he has when he spends time alone. Henkes's realistic watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations of a thoughtful, introspective child are loosely framed with sketchy lines that contribute to the gentle, quiet tone of the book. This story, different in many ways from the artist's well-known picture books featuring mice, speaks to a child's need for solitude.

Kevin Henkes offers a meditative reflection on the joys of solitude in his first book, All Alone, originally published more than 20 years ago. A boy contemplates the joys of using his imagination-""""When I'm alone,/ I can change my size any way I like./ I can be tall enough to taste the sky""""-ultimately concluding that being all alone is fun """"for just a while."""" Watercolor-and-colored-pencil art complements the gentle text with timeless images of nature and wonder.