Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story

K-Gr 3-Evolution is a ticklish topic. It is controversial to some for religious reasons; for others, it is a challenging concept to present to a young audience without losing scientific veracity. For one thing, young children have little concept of time-a million years might be the span between birthdays. For another, the idea of slow, evolutionary change still seems somehow equal to a magician's trick. So, accomplishing a reasonable explanation of a scientific concept and its progress through millennia is worthy of note. Peters's simple text uses the "we/us" format to place Homo sapiens in the "family" of life at its very beginnings. "All of us," she states in the first sentence of the book, "are part of an old, old family," going back to Earth's beginnings. "We've changed a lot since then." Through a simple progression, amply bolstered by Stringer's striking, large acrylics, she traces "our" family tree from unicellular organisms through amphibians, therapsids, and early mammals to early primates, hominids, and our distinct "humanness" today. Enriched by two pages of additional data and a colorful time line, the whole is rounded out by carefully written author and illustrator notes. Simpler than Stephen Webster's The Kingfisher Book of Evolution (2000) and Melvin Berger's How Life Began (Doubleday, 1990; o.p.), and perhaps easier than Joanna Cole's venerable Evolution (Crowell, 1987; o.p.), this book is a wonderful companion to Steve Jenkins's equally attractive Life on Earth (Houghton, 2002).-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

"All of us are part of an old, old family," begins Peters's (Cold Little Duck, Duck, Duck) lyrical, child-friendly book about evolution. Stressing the kinship of humans with all living things, the text identifies each of the species at various stages of evolution not just as "our" relatives but as ourselves ("We didn't have two eyes to blink or ten toes to wiggle. We were just tiny round cells in the deep, dark sea"). Focusing briefly on selected successive stages over millions of years, her descriptions emphasize the "outside" and "inside" of each creature ("On the outside, we were squishy and soft, like worms. On the inside, our cells had many shapes-square like boxes, pointy like stars, round like ripe seeds"). While most of the writing seems keenly attuned to young readers, there is one troublesome exception. The pivotal concept-that all life shares a common ancestor-is introduced as Peters writes that the cells in the deep, dark sea "had the same kind of spiraling genetic code for life we have today"; the idea of a genetic code goes unexplained, even in the endnotes. Stringer's (Scarecrow) warm, inviting acrylics alternate full-bleed vistas with close-ups of each stop on the journey, effectively mirroring the text's outside/inside approach. An arresting image of a fish, for instance, in shades of cobalt and sea green, is flip-flopped on the opposite page as a tawny fossil. An illustrated timeline helps readers place the information in context. All ages. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

"Evolution is what has created the living world and what keeps it going. If we do not understand evolution, we will never understand our world. How lucky our children are to have this beautiful and moving guide from which to learn!"
—Dr. Ernst Mayr
Professor of Zoology, Emeritus, Harvard University