Written by Anna Brett
Illustrated by Nick Hayes
In science lessons at school this year, one of the topics we studied was evolution and inheritance. I found it quite interesting to learn how plants and animals have adapted to suit the environments they live in. If you are interested in science or animals then I think you would enjoy this book.
Charles Darwin was an Englishman born in 1809. He grew up to become a scientist who studied nature. Between 1831 and 1836, Darwin took part in expeditions to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and the Galápagos on the HMS Beagle. He collected plants, animals, rocks and fossils which helped scientists learn how the Earth’s surface formed and changed over time. Darwin was a Christian but after his voyage, he began to question the origin of living things on Earth. In 1859, he published his book ‘On the Origin of Species’ which outlined his theory of evolution. It challenged the idea that God made all the animals and plants on Earth. He was able to show that living things, such as animals, had changed over time, adapting to their environment. Those species that had the most helpful qualities suited to their environment tended to survive. This theory became known as ‘natural selection’.
It is guide to the theory of evolution written in simple language that younger readers can understand but it still contains lots of scientific vocabulary which is so useful for the topic. It teaches you about Darwin, how important his work was and how much it has changed scientific thinking across the world. The text is broken up into 29 short chapters – each one covers two large pages. There is a glossary at the back of the book to help with more difficult words/ideas and the whole text is really colourful and well presented. I liked the different fonts, fact boxes and quotations from Darwin’s original The book itself is a large hardback (about 28 x 38 cm) so there is lots of room for all the amazing illustrations, maps and diagrams of people, places and animals to help explain things like food chains, adaptations, modification & fossil formation.
The book is aimed at children aged 7+ and I think it would be useful for both primary and secondary age readers. My oldest brother (aged 16) picked it up and was soon telling me about how horses feet have evolved over time and about natural selection in Peppered Moths during the Industrial Revolution – both are described in the book and they reminded him of his biology lessons in school.
I was also interested to discover that this book is from a non-fiction series called ‘Words that Changed the World’. There is also a book called Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity which I would quite like to read too.
My score: 5/5
The Library Mouse Tales 