Nothing can prepare us for what is about to be experienced. In the case of creativity and imagination nothing really should. So what is a description to do? The book of it is a poetic meditation on learning and school. It is about that which cannot be named, but can be pervasive in our lives (if we let it).
Review by Alex Winstanley, poet: "WOWEEEE. It is like the Tao Te Ching but more colourful. I love that part about sitting by the campfire with Plato, melting the Forms into marshmallows. The playfulness of the book dabs from a palette of delight onto the grey matter of the adult mind. I love how you get really in between things, like a child fitting between a wall and the refrigerator. So original! So refreshing! I am also really impressed by how you create a mood and an aura with so few words. Quite masterful..." Thank you, Alex.
The Book of It is a tribute to ‘none of the above’ when it comes to the search for meaning and answers—both in life and in education. In this meditative book, Daniela Elza tries to find the It between ‘cash and two pieces of ID’ and ‘a blue guitar with one string (forgotten),’ between a tree trunk that ‘needs more than one person to embrace it’ and a measurement of ‘1000 words (can be more/not less)’. Without doubt, The Book of It is a pleasant surprise even to itself.
"Oh, Daniela! The book of it is wonderful! We go through life as teachers/learners. This book takes me through a wide range of memories and language and visual captures. What a treat! One of my favourite its: "It sleeps in a field guide to the possible. . .wild flowers in the footnotes." Time now for a thoughtful reread."
'It' is that window, that urgent bright day which reminds us of the possibilities that call us, if only we're willing to step out from our four walls. Each page of 'It' is a dynamic meditation, a burning juxtaposition, a study in inner tension. 'It' is brave– Elza gently takes the reader's hand, and, with her trademark sense of humour asks the critical questions in a compassionate, high-spirited way. The result is the reigniting of that fundamental spark of wonder that exists within all of us. Elza is both teacher and student in this beautiful epistemological exploration.
'It’ is the friend of the inarticulate that waters and nourishes the vast world within us: oceans of feelings, mountains of thoughts, valleys of good will, rivers of memory, orchards of creativity . . . Daniela has befriended ‘it’, and now introduces us to ‘it’- to your ‘it’ that you may have forgotten long ago. Do you recognize "the flame that blossoms on white winter walls and like laughter fills us"? Do you remember the time "when you enter its house you cannot leave each door opens onto another room within"? Thank you, Daniela, for taking me gently by the hand and leading me to ‘it’.
