A Coloring & Exploration Guide
THE LONELY FOX is a picture book that began with loneliness—my own.
I spent much of my early life feeling lonely and struggling to understand my own mind. After being diagnosed with bipolar I disorder in 2015, I began asking myself different questions—not What is wrong with me? but What is happening to me? What do I need? The more curious I became about myself, the more I began to understand who I was.
Before The Lonely Fox, I wrote a poem about a lonely flower whose tears caused more plants to grow, which brought animals and eventually created an entire ecosystem. Without realizing it, the flower’s loneliness had helped create the community it had been longing for. That idea eventually became Wolf.
Wolf was me.
Wolf cries out that he is alone even as life grows all around him—he just can’t see it yet. Occhio was inspired by my husband, who helped me open my eyes to the people, possibilities, and connection already around me.
The humor part came later. It took time—and a little more self-esteem—before I could laugh at myself. But as I understood myself better, I also began to understand what connection actually meant for me. For a while, I thought being less lonely meant having more friends, so I pushed myself to socialize until I burned out. Really bad. Eventually, I realized I didn’t need a crowd—I needed people who truly saw and understood me. That realization became part of The Lonely Fox: Wolf doesn’t learn to be social with everyone; he learns what kind of connection feels right for him, even if that means one visitor at a time. (Which, honestly, can be plenty.)
My own journey with loneliness became the heart of LESS LONELY.
I created LESS LONELY as a free coloring book and exploration tool for kids—and for the parents, teachers, caregivers, and curious humans helping them—to talk about loneliness without shame. The activities explore what loneliness can feel like, what might cause it, who your safe people are, what makes you happy, and what you can do when you need connection or support.
You can write. You can draw. You can color.
You can scribble all over the page. In fact, I highly recommend it!
There isn’t one correct way to be less lonely.
My hope is that these pages help someone understand themselves a bit better, recognize when they need help, and discover what kind of connection feels right for them. Sometimes it begins with understanding yourself.
And sometimes it begins with just one person who sees you.
Please feel free to copy and use these pages, or email neenaphan@gmail.com for the complete PDF packet.
