The World From Here by Cassy Polimeni, ill. Mel Armstrong
CSIRO Publishing
– Cassy Polimeni & Mel Armstrong write about ‘The World From Here’ for Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords blog –
Cassy Polimeni
The first glimmer of what became The World From Here came to me during a writing challenge called Storystorm. I was thinking about countries that form familiar shapes – on a map, Norway looks a bit like a guitar, Italy is a boot and Japan is a seahorse. I imagined someone watching the world from their plane window and someone else on the ground below. Maybe they were looking for shapes in the clouds and saw the plane fly by, just a speck overhead.
That little scene grabbed me and I started thinking about how we all experience the world differently, both literally and in a more abstract sense. I thought about big things (constellations and clouds and wild weather and how the world used to be one giant land mass called Pangea a long, long time ago) and small things (raindrops and snowflakes and where mushrooms come from and the patterns in nature like tree trunk rings and animal markings and spiderwebs). And I thought about some of my favourite picture books, Here We Are (Oliver Jeffers) and This Small Blue Dot (Zeno Sworder) books that do what picture books do best: try to capture the biggest feelings and ideas in the most deceptively simple way.
The World From Here is the story of Milo the cloud watcher and Maya the traveller and how they each experience the world. It’s also about nephology (the study of clouds) and meteorology and geography and patterns and pareidolia and weather and how it makes us feel. There were so many fascinating facts I wanted to include (and lots I had to leave out). But focussing on those two characters and switching between their perspectives helped me tame this huge topic and give the story shape.
To make the two different threads manageable I made a Word doc with two columns: left for the story and right for the facts. Working with CSIRO Publishing, I researched and wrote additional back matter. They also created a glossary of terms mentioned in the book that might spark more discussions. Everything was cross-checked by the editorial team and with cloud facts verified by the CSIRO science team, which was pretty cool.
The book can be read two ways – you can dip in and out focussing on a particular theme or inquiry topic OR you read from the beginning (for kids who like their facts with a side of narrative, like I do). Milo and Maya’s story is lightly told in text but it’s all there in the illustrations and I love how Mel Armstrong has brought everything to life in such joyful, vivid colour – perfect for younger readers.
On average, kids ask 300 questions a day(!) I hope this book provides some answers or a springboard to further investigations. To me, science IS magic. There are so many things in the world that feel stranger and even more full of wonder than fiction and I hope this book will be a good companion for kids who are always saying ‘how’ or ‘why’ or simply ‘wow’ as they move through the world.
Mel Armstrong: Bringing The World From Here to Life
When CSIRO Publishing first asked me to illustrate Cassy Polimeni’s picture book, The World From Here, I was hooked immediately. Cassy has this amazing way of writing that makes you feel a deep sense of wonder about our planet. I fell in love with the story right away.
The main heart of the book is all about perspective. It’s the idea that no matter where we are, we’re all under the same sky connected by the same sun, moon, stars, and clouds.
My process started with reading the manuscript over and over. I wanted to soak up the “vibe” of the story, so I pulled out keywords, moods, and the way the characters moved. Because the book is about looking at things differently, I spent a lot of time playing with rough sketches and odd angles to see what worked best.
I also spent a lot of time staring at the sky. I’m lucky enough to live on a hill with an amazing view, so I got to watch some pretty incredible cloud formations right from my window. I even headed to the library and grabbed every book I could find on clouds! I wanted the sky in the book to feel real, but also a little bit magical.
Everything starts with a flurry of loose, messy sketches. For this book, the layout was everything. I had to balance big, wide views of the sky with tiny, quiet moments where a child is just interacting with the world around them.
I worked closely with the team at CSIRO during the storyboarding phase to make sure the “pacing” felt right. They were fantastic and found any flaws or suggested a different way to make the flow feel better. I generally spend more time in this phase than I do in the final phase of colouring.
Even though I created the final art digitally, I didn’t want it to look “computerised.” I added lots of textures, brushstrokes, and subtle grain to give it a hand-drawn, organic feel. I wanted it to feel cosy and inviting.
Ultimately, the best part was realising that no matter how busy or complex life gets, the sky is always there. I wanted the kids reading this book to feel a sense of calm, knowing they share the same big, beautiful canopy with everyone else.
Illustrating The World From Here was such a rewarding experience. It was a real privilege to work with Cassy and the CSIRO Publishing on a book that reminds us all to just… stop, look up, and breathe.
Mel Armstrong
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