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 people: 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?