Is There Anybody Out There? - by Ellen Duthie (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Who would have thought that the first extraterrestrial message received on Earth verified by the scientific community would come in the form of a book? And who could have imagined, when opening the book in search of answers, that it would be composed only of questions? Questions, questions, and more questions! What is it like to be human? And what is it like to be you? What is the purpose of gender? How do you know what you know? Is Earth a good home? How do you humans get along? Who names the world on Earth? And, on Earth, does 2+2 always equal 4? And much more. This book for intelligent earthlings (of different ages and heights) poses questions about identity, gender, coexistence, social differences, art, and a long etcetera of topics that say so much about humanity and make us stop to think about our way of understanding and inhabiting the world. With a style as intelligent and rigorous as it is fun and playful, Is There Anybody Out There? is a book to awaken curiosity, conversation, reflection, and debate."--Amazon.

Book Synopsis

"Tailor-made for young minds beginning to grapple with big ideas." --Publishers Weekly

* Winner, White Ravens, 2022 * Best Publishing Project, Premio Andersen, 2023 * Best Books for Children and Young People, El Banco del Libro, 2023

Is There Anybody Out There? is an introduction to philosophical curiosity sent to planet Earth from the planet Bibopia, with love. The aliens have asked us questions about many different topics, but certainly not about all topics; perhaps we can come up with some too.

Who would have thought that the first extraterrestrial message received on Earth verified by the scientific community would come in the form of a book? And who could have imagined, when opening the book in search of answers, that it would be composed only of questions?

Questions, questions, and more questions!

What is it like to be human? And what is it like to be you? What is the purpose of gender? How do you know what you know? Is Earth a good home? How do you humans get along? Who names the world on Earth? And, on Earth, does 2+2 always equal 4? And much more.

This book for intelligent earthlings (of different ages and heights) poses questions about identity, gender, coexistence, social differences, art, and a long etcetera of topics that say so much about humanity and make us stop to think about our way of understanding and inhabiting the world. With a style as intelligent and rigorous as it is fun and playful, Is There Anybody Out There? is a book to awaken curiosity, conversation, reflection, and debate.

Review Quotes

"A book for intelligent earthlings (of different ages and sizes), that asks us questions about personal identity, gender, living together, social inequality, the purpose of art, and a long etcetera of topics, effortlessly sparking deep thinking and exchanging of opinions."-- "Cuatrogatos Foundation"

"A philosophical atlas with multiple reading paths. Rather than offering answers, it encourages curiosity and invites dialogue between children and adults."-- "La Lectura Magazine"

"A thread of questions that helps us search for the meaning of our existence and encourages readers to embark on a deep and beneficial inquiry."-- "Canal Lector, Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez"

"How is it possible for a collection of questions to give us so much knowledge about humanity?"--Joana Rita Sousa "Filocriatividade"

"Open to creative use in different contexts, offering the perfect equilibrium between serious thinking and fun."-- "Anderson Prize Committee, 2023"

"This is a copy of a book, which was found in a donutshaped spaceship on the beach near the Spanish city of Cádiz. It contains only the questions which the residents of the planet Bipopia wanted to ask Earth's inhabitants, whose activities they have apparently been observing for some time. Did everything happen just as the foreword claims? Be that as it may. In any case, the questionnaire is brilliant and will surely cause the brain of every reader to sizzle. Is making mistakes part of human nature? Are you glad to be a human? Why? Can a man be female? Would it be good to know everything? Are there things for which there are no human words? Innumerable clever, witty, surprising, and tricky questions of the widest variety, organised in categories such as being human, knowledge, society, or art, can be found in this book. No answers are given, simply a lot of material to help the reader, alone or with others, to discuss and to think about oneself and the strange human race and come up with one's own answers."-- "White Ravens Committee, 2022"

"Through questions that operate as a fun chain of queries, it explores what would happen if aliens arrived on Earth and tried to understand our way of life. Following the Socratic method, Ellen Duthie uses both text and image to present, on each page, an atmosphere that adds dynamism while inviting reflection every time we open any of the double page spreads of this book."-- "Banco del Libro Committee"

"We'd like to recommend a truly exceptional book. A jewel. It is full of questions, even the title is question! A great book to read, think and talk. A real spark for curiosity and a feast to be enjoyed from age 8 to infinity and beyond!"--Cristina Hermoso de Mendoza "La estación azul de los niños"

About the Author

Ellen Duthie is the co-founder of the Wonder Ponder philosophy and literature for children publisher and education project, based in Madrid (Spain). As a writer, she is best known for her Visual Philosophy for Children series (winner of the Andersen Prize for Best Publishing Project 2023), and is also the author of Is There Anybody Out There? Interplanetary Questionary for Intelligent Earthlings (White Ravens Award and "Los mejores del Banco del Libro" Award). Her fiction picture book Un par de ojos nuevos won the Spanish Bookseller's Award for Best Children's Book in 2022. She has translated Maurice Sendak, Jules Feiffer, and John Burningham titles into Spanish.