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Reviewed by C.R. Hurst for Readers' Favorite
The Boy Who Lost His Voice by Ellen van Schoten combines striking black-and-white illustrations and lovely storytelling to create an unforgettable book. In it, a twelve-year-old boy named Willem loses his voice, which sends him on a journey throughout his hometown of Delft in the Netherlands and across the North Sea to Wales and England to find it once again. During his travels, readers soon learn that only his singing voice is lost, not his speaking voice, and that the setting is a modern one, despite the rich history sketched. He has only brief encounters with others on his way until a kind priest befriends Willem, and together they search for a voice that does not want to be found and may well pose unseen dangers. Will Willem finally find his voice?
What I appreciated the most about The Boy Who Lost His Voice is its layered meaning. Author and illustrator Ellen van Schoten brings her artistry to a deceptively simple story that evolves into a coming-of-age parable that requires its readers to make connections that unearth a more complex tale. Even so, the precise story, like Willem’s voice, remains elusive, since we are given little backstory, making it a more speculative one. Is Willem simply a singer in a boy’s choir who has lost his treble range in adolescence? Or is there some darker reason for his loss that has yet to be revealed in a sequel? The ending is an open-ended one, making a continuation of the story a real possibility. I hope I’m right.
