INSIDE MY IMAGINATION

Imagination is an elusive concept, and this book misses the boat in its attempt to deconstruct one girl's creative process.

The nameless child tries to describe how her mind works as she explores the world of her imagination, entering it quite literally through a door and seeing legendary characters: “unicorns, fairies, elves and magicians.” Then she proceeds to use a series of similes: “My imagination is like a sea of thoughts that float and glide over each other.” “My imagination is like a land of clouds of different shapes.” Since she starts by discussing story and writing, a segue to letters and words makes sense, but this is a limited view of imagination and creativity. She includes one reference to music but none to scientific creativity or the visual arts. Light bulbs and gears appear as clichéd images inside her mind. Illustrations mix watercolor and drawing and sometimes have a diagrammatic look. The limited palette is quite sophisticated, as is some language. As the text ends, the narrator speaks about what happens after her words hold hands: “And they cross the bridge of my imagination that connects my worlds: the internal and the external.”

Originally published in Spain, this amorphous volume could certainly be used as a jumping-off point by a creative adult, but there are far better books on the topic available.