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Why in the World Are We Here?
Eia and Whhat had spent as long as they could remember trying to figure out why in the world they were here in the world. One day, they got so sick of wondering that they hopped onto a rickety raft and set sail across the ocean in search of answers. Finally, after many moon-suns had passed, Whhat spotted an island. After touring The Island of Fun, they were satisfied that the meaning of life was to have fun. Resolved, they returned to their raft and headed home. But on the way, they got lost.
Join Eia and Whhat as they tour the islands of Fun, Progress, Love, Creation, Nothing, Now, Power, Destruction, Me, and Healing, and have a go at creating your own island too, as you and your family muse over the various meanings of life. Are there more meanings, more islands? Could we belong to more than one island? Do we go to different islands at different times in our life? How should we live life and why?
For this book, the author, Clare-Rose Trevelyan, invited nine artists to each create a different island, its history, geography and Cassandra King (The Island of Fun), Danica Chappell (Progress), Honor Bradbeer (Love), María Medem Pérez (Creation), Antoine Nogueira (Nothing), Emil Toonen (Now), Patrick Sluiter (Power), Alexander Esenarro Santafe (Destruction), Yongho Moon (Me and Healing).
Why in the World Are We Here? is part of the Young Philosophers Series dedicated to listening to and valuing children as natural philosophers. These unconventional and creative books are designed to get children’s imaginations flowing.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
1. Read the story and keep in mind questions about the meaning of your life, what matters to you and exactly how you'd like to live your own life.
2. Choose your favourite island as if you yourself were paddling around a huge LAKE in a theme park and choosing where you would live of all the places. Keep all your thoughts in a journal.
3. Go to the back of the book to make your own island, complete with law, currency, a motto, flag and a historic story of how your island came to be.
4. Create as many islands or places within your island as you like, and you perhaps may start to wonder about who in your life would live on which island, or wonder about if life itself has any meaning at all, or if indeed perhaps you are to make up your own meaning?
Join Eia and Whhat as they tour the islands of Fun, Progress, Love, Creation, Nothing, Now, Power, Destruction, Me, and Healing, and have a go at creating your own island too, as you and your family muse over the various meanings of life. Are there more meanings, more islands? Could we belong to more than one island? Do we go to different islands at different times in our life? How should we live life and why?
For this book, the author, Clare-Rose Trevelyan, invited nine artists to each create a different island, its history, geography and Cassandra King (The Island of Fun), Danica Chappell (Progress), Honor Bradbeer (Love), María Medem Pérez (Creation), Antoine Nogueira (Nothing), Emil Toonen (Now), Patrick Sluiter (Power), Alexander Esenarro Santafe (Destruction), Yongho Moon (Me and Healing).
Why in the World Are We Here? is part of the Young Philosophers Series dedicated to listening to and valuing children as natural philosophers. These unconventional and creative books are designed to get children’s imaginations flowing.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
1. Read the story and keep in mind questions about the meaning of your life, what matters to you and exactly how you'd like to live your own life.
2. Choose your favourite island as if you yourself were paddling around a huge LAKE in a theme park and choosing where you would live of all the places. Keep all your thoughts in a journal.
3. Go to the back of the book to make your own island, complete with law, currency, a motto, flag and a historic story of how your island came to be.
4. Create as many islands or places within your island as you like, and you perhaps may start to wonder about who in your life would live on which island, or wonder about if life itself has any meaning at all, or if indeed perhaps you are to make up your own meaning?
130 pages, Paperback
Published November 5, 2023
About the author
Clare-Rose Trevelyan
9 books30 followersPhilosophy has been a passion of mine since a young age when the riddles of the universe first snuck into my soul and the everyday everydayness of life coming alive left me spellbound as if I could see things through a pair of kaleidoscopic spectacles.
My focus over the past twenty years of working in schools, external literacy programs and theatre has been to awaken the philosopher inside the minds of children to get them thinking about how they are thinking and wondering about why they are wondering by enchanting them with vivid stories, complex creatures, twinkling soundtracks and most importantly, questions.
I write books for parents and children. Fragments of thoughts were ripped from the pages of my own journals and became my first nine illustrated children’s books in two series: the Past Life Library and the Young Philosophers Series. In my spare time, I’m creating an imaginary theme park of the mind.
My focus over the past twenty years of working in schools, external literacy programs and theatre has been to awaken the philosopher inside the minds of children to get them thinking about how they are thinking and wondering about why they are wondering by enchanting them with vivid stories, complex creatures, twinkling soundtracks and most importantly, questions.
I write books for parents and children. Fragments of thoughts were ripped from the pages of my own journals and became my first nine illustrated children’s books in two series: the Past Life Library and the Young Philosophers Series. In my spare time, I’m creating an imaginary theme park of the mind.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 29, 2024
I read this book twice and found both reads fascinating. I am a mother of two tweens in the target audience for this, and I’m now excited to sit down with them to explore it. It comes from The Young Philosophers Series, which notes on the back inside cover that its intention is to be “a place children can explore philosophy by doing it, rather than by being told about what it is and isn’t.” I think Clare-Rose Trevelyan really did an impressive job of following that premise.
The book explores the potential meaning of life and encourages its readers to interact with the pages from the get-go. The expectation is laid out that we should insert ourselves in the experience, and it encourages whimsical and out-of-the-box thinking with beautiful illustrations from a variety of artists. The storyline, an anecdote of traveling to various islands representing various answers to the age-old question, is simple enough for the intended audience to consume but includes made-up words and abstract ideas that will stretch the reader; I felt both items encouraged creativity and open-mindedness. I enjoyed that the protagonist and sidekick were essentially physically making the journey in the story that we were encouraged to take in our own minds.
The book mentions the “memories of the mind” and capturing them, and provides an opportunity to do so in a blank visual format at the end of the book that is modeled after each of the various explorations of meaning in the story. We are also made to believe that we could add our own ideas to each island and to even cut up pages if need be. I love that it was a book that covered some truly thought-provoking material but the author remembered that the readers are still children. She is absolutely up to the task.
Overall, a big takeaway for me is that we are the producers and determiners of the meaning in our own lives and we might arrive at a multitude of answers to that question over the course of our lives, or we might find that it’s a combination of things or we might in fact never know the answer. We are left knowing that contradiction and confusion are okay, and there’s worth in the exploration. This book has the capacity to really get the wheels turning in the minds of any reader.
The book explores the potential meaning of life and encourages its readers to interact with the pages from the get-go. The expectation is laid out that we should insert ourselves in the experience, and it encourages whimsical and out-of-the-box thinking with beautiful illustrations from a variety of artists. The storyline, an anecdote of traveling to various islands representing various answers to the age-old question, is simple enough for the intended audience to consume but includes made-up words and abstract ideas that will stretch the reader; I felt both items encouraged creativity and open-mindedness. I enjoyed that the protagonist and sidekick were essentially physically making the journey in the story that we were encouraged to take in our own minds.
The book mentions the “memories of the mind” and capturing them, and provides an opportunity to do so in a blank visual format at the end of the book that is modeled after each of the various explorations of meaning in the story. We are also made to believe that we could add our own ideas to each island and to even cut up pages if need be. I love that it was a book that covered some truly thought-provoking material but the author remembered that the readers are still children. She is absolutely up to the task.
Overall, a big takeaway for me is that we are the producers and determiners of the meaning in our own lives and we might arrive at a multitude of answers to that question over the course of our lives, or we might find that it’s a combination of things or we might in fact never know the answer. We are left knowing that contradiction and confusion are okay, and there’s worth in the exploration. This book has the capacity to really get the wheels turning in the minds of any reader.
January 30, 2024
I read this, my 12 year old daughter read it and my 7 year old daughter and we all loved it. The style is definitely not something you see much but it is visually intriguing and the story really speaks to you. We discussed which island would be the best and they loved getting to draw their own island at the end. This author really has a way of drawing you into the books and the art included in the book is amazing to look at. Overall I recommend this book and read it with your kids because it creates a wonderful conversation starter with them and really gets kids and adults thinking about the deeper things in life in a fun and engaging way.
May 2, 2024
It never ceases to amaze me how much books directed to young(er) readers impact me. I’m long past my reading Kant phase, but “Why In The World Are We Here?" with fun language and tangible terms reignited my passion for pondering the Big Questions. The different art styles perfectly complement this inquisitive adventure. Accessible philosophy books like this one are a crucial tool for raising the critical thinkers the world desperately needs.
March 7, 2024
Imagination
We can make our world anything we want to. Dare to dream and dream big. Loved the art work. Very interesting story.
We can make our world anything we want to. Dare to dream and dream big. Loved the art work. Very interesting story.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews