A World of Your Own

by Laura Carlin (Artist)

If you were creating a world of your own, what would it look like? Would you build your house out of brick – or out of jelly? Would it be on the ground or in a tree? Would your shops sell envelopes and sweets – or shoes for superheroes? Would you ride a train to town, or a dinosaur? Taking the reader on an extraordinary visual journey through her imaginative world, award-winning illustrator, Laura Carlin, inspires children to look , draw and make – first from life, and then from the imagination through sharing her own personal thought-processes and drawing techniques. Using the narrative of a day – from getting up in the morning, to going to bed at night – Laura shows children how she records every day things and events on paper, and then improves them through her wild and witty imagination – helping children form a visual manifesto of their own world, and enthusing them to find enjoyment and entertainment in drawing and creating with the most everyday objects.

Genres: Picture Books, Art, Childrens, Kids

48 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2014

About the author

Laura Carlin is the illustrator of The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, which was awarded an honorable mention in the Bologna Ragazzi Award fiction category. Her artwork has been featured in Vogue, the New York Times, and the Guardian. The Promise is her first picture book. She lives in London.

Reviews

[Mathew]

Having said how much I wanted to see Carlin work alone, I found this incredible book in our library at Brookes. This is Carlin's first solo foray into the picturebook and it's an incredibly inventive one. Taking us through a 'day in the life' she introduces us to herself and then invites us to try seeing the world in the ways that she does - beginning with reimagining her home to more elaborate shape games. How she illustrates and models this process is extremely appealing and insightful. She celebrates the creative process and asks the reader to re-imagine their own world through funny and personal interpretations.

[Mayryott]

有点刻意强调创意了，反而失去了灵气，像是创意写作课一样的创意绘画课。

[I _teach_muggles]

Laura Carlin lets readers into her wonderful and wild imagination in this superb read that is sure to spark the creativity in any young reader.

When Laura Carlin looks at the world she doesn’t just see it as it is, she sees possibilities and opportunities. The rules of the normal world do not apply in Carlin’s imagination. From imaginative ways to be woken up to creating her perfect house complete with slides, a rope ladder and perched in a tree. Ordinary shops are converted into supplies for superheroes and factories have to be the shape of the things that they make - a personal favourite. There are trains shaped like a banana, libraries where you can borrow hair-styles and voices, and a school that teaches cookie-eating, human-pyramid building and how to make a chair float using balloons. I just want to live in Carlin’s world and if that isn’t possible then I will make do by returning to this book regularly just to live in her imagination.

The child-like drawings just ooze creativity and are full of the kind of charm and appeal that readers of all ages will love. You honestly feel like this is a look into the made-up-world of a child and I absolutely love it. As Carlin creates here own world, she wants to readers to join in with her. She does this by giving direct instructions or asking questions that encourage the reader to think and create.

Carlin turns the everyday into the incredible and it is brilliant. She rips up the world as we know it and invites readers into her world, a world of wonderful creation and infinite possibilities. A world that she has designed and it is wonderfully imaginative and imaginatively wonderful. An absolute delight.

Recommended for 6+.

[Gemma]

A great book for encouraging children to tap into their creativity! The pictures strongly compliment the text by showing how individual imagination can take a twist on original ideas. I was pleased to see parts in the book where it encourages readers to take a few moments to put their creativity on some of the examples given in the book:

"And finally, here's my house in My World. Draw an outline of your house. Now draw where you would like to live. What's your house made of? Does it have walls or windows? How do you get in and out?" These questions are based on the examples the author gives, and allows the reader to express their own ideas. I can imagine this as being a great activity to use in a classroom...or at home!

[Kylie Coon]

I absolutely loved this book. It has so many different opportunities for kids to be creative and express themselves. I would use this book as a read-aloud and then let my students create a world of their own in whatever ways they imagine. I definitely recommend this book to other teachers of younger grades!

[Jennifer B.]

Every child has a make-believe world of their own, or at least they should. Some adults do, too (I plead The Fifth). In this book, the author shares her world, with fun hand crafted illustrations, and encourages children to make visual representations of their worlds, too.

[Jen]

Gorgeous, naive mixed media illustrations. Carlin gently invites readers to create their own world through focused illustration exercises; this book is a very good resource for creative writing sessions at a library.

[Flora Wong]

2015/10/18

[EJLJ]

A great way for kids to think outside of the box and learn ways to re-think their "normal" surroundings.

[Adele]

This book shows a girls imagination, creating her own world- could be used to foster pupils' imagination, for a topic, start of an art of creative piece. Very unique book.

[时间的玫瑰]

真好呀，提示和鼓励小小朋友去观察生活，去想象未知，再用创作去表现心中的大大世界。没有拘束和规则， things aren’t always what they seem. 最近好喜欢逛图书馆的juvenile section，借没借到书都很开心。

[Meghan]

I love the collage/mixed-media elements. Very creative.

[Marko8]

Such a cute book to inspire and encourage the creativity of kiddos. Will be using this in the future. Would recommend.

[Azul]

bello bello bello

[Mercè]

Un llibre creatiu que convida a imaginar i a crear. Té propostes i preguntes integrades sense que siguin una activitat marcada en si. M'agrada el punt esbojarrat i la combinació de tècniques.

[Magdalena en su sepulcro]

¿Por qué no vivo en el mundo de esta niña? Me aburro y me caigo en las escaleras, prefiero los toboganes.

[Rosie]

Such a creative book! So many ways to use this with KS2 children - art, writing and geography.

[Kelsey]

Age: Kindergarten-2nd grade
Art: Drawing

Carlin invites readers to share her imaginary world with her, where she draws inspiration from real life and depicts it on the page. Carlin's narrative voice is casually inviting and encouraging, asking the reader/listener to join with her in creating their own world. What a delightful concept with superb execution!

[Paula Hollohan]

I like this book because it asks something of the reader. Great questions to get readers involved in designing their own imaginative world. I would like the art to be more mixed media to show examples of how kids can depict their own "worlds." That being said, I do like the variety of questions.

[Elizabeth]

Didn't really care for this one. Wouldn't work in Story Time. Not a big fan of the art.

[Jill Pickle]

The bottom line is that reality is boring, and you need this book to inspire you for ways to make it more interesting (in the case you don't already have a rich vivid inner life). I loved this book!