One Beetle Too Many: The Extraordianry Advntures of Charles Darwin - Kathryn Lasky

Illustrated by Matthew Trueman
Candlewick, 2009
$17.99
40 pages
for: grades 3+
Rating: 5
Endpapers: green with lighter green ferny leaves twining around

Dedication from KL: "In celebration of children, whose boundless curiousity gives thme a right to know their history on Earth." Don't ya love it?

I've been trying to get my hands on this book for over a year. Thank you, Tucson Library for coming through. It only took a year!

This is a super biography of Charles Darwin - making him a real person. You can feel his curiosity, see his peering and examining and thinking. You can totally visualize the rain forests of South American...Patagonia...the Galapagos. Following his five-year journey on a map would be great - wish one were included in the book.

Kathryn Lasky discusses the controversy - and such a major controversy it is - between creationism and evolution. Theology vs. science? Hmmm.....

She tells how Darwin's father despaired over his son's lack of ambition with his studies, over his inability to find a career he deemed suitable. Even Charles' loving wife, Emma - who provided ten (TEN!) children for him - was not comfortable with his theories of evolution.

This is a wonderful, fascinating biography for 4th - 5th - 6th graders. Lots to think about, and lots to learn. A must-have for a biography unit.

Most of the illustrations are just great. A couple, of mountains and snow and the sea, are a little too barren for me - but I guess they're trying to depict the setting, huh? The illustrations in What Darwin Saw by Rosalyn Schanzer would go so beautifully with this - I'd use the two books together. Compare and contrast. Higher level thinking skills. Mmm hmm.

What Darwin Saw - Rosalyn Schanzer

The Journey That Changed the World
National Geographic Society
For: grades 3/4 and up
48 pgs.
Rating: 5
Published: 2009
Read: Feb. 25, 2009 B&N
Endpapers: Forest Green
Really attractive cover - I'd love a poster of this book, also the "family tree" of the evolutionary theory (p. 39) is poster-worthy

This appears to be a well-researched book. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) set off in 1831, at the age of 22, on a 5-year voyage around the world. He traveled with Captain Roert FitzRoy on The Beagle , obtaining specimens and recording observations for an amazing amount of species that no one in Europe had ever seen. Along the coast of South America, past the tip and up to the Galapagos Islands, across to Tahiti - we are his companions as he smells and survives - riding with gauchos on the pampas, watching volcanos erupt, feeling earthquakes shake, eating exotic cuisine and taking in the world. We see dinosaur bones and giant iguanas and unique shells and exotic flowers.

The last part of the book tells of his arrival back in England, his further studies and writing, his family, and how he shared his reasearch with the world. Pgs. 46-47 show a world map detailing his voyage.

Illustrated beautifully. Written in graphic format, with what looks like his own words - if so he was a great writer, using cool, sophisticated (but understandable) vocabulary. Sidebars with additional information keep the story flowing. Great book - I want to read it again. And even if you find yourself in the midst of the controversy about science vs. faith, this is a wonderful biography of a world-famous scientist.

"Forests and flowers and birds I saw in great perfection. If the eye attempts to follow the flight of a gaudy butterfly, it is arrested by some strange tree or fruit; if watching an insect one forgets it in the stranger flower it is crawling over." Mmm, mmm good.

10. Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature - Robin Brande

For: YA/7-10
Published: 2007
Rating: 4.5
Finished: Feb. 8, 2009
265 pgs.

This was a grabber from the start. Mena has been totally ostracized by her friends, her pastor, AND her parents- even kicked out of her church. We know that she has written some sort of letter that is has gotten her into this hot water - her pastor and many of her ex-friends' families are being sued big-time. We only slowly get the story, which begins on her first day of freshman year. Not only is she ignored by the friends she grew up with - she is bullied and pushed around and embarrassed. And what these "devout" Christian kids do in the name of Jesus and God -- here, in black and white, is a story for young adults about some right-wing religious fanatics vs. open-minded thinkers. And we're talking right-wingers that don't read or watch anything that hints of magic or sorcery (think Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings) and tithe heavily.

Throw in an intriguing, off-beat biology teacher that's about to begin a unit on evolution, a cute, brainy - and male - science lab partner, and a dozen black lab puppies, and you have a story of how one girl begins to fight back, keeping her love of God and the Bible evenly balanced with good sense and creative thinking. Mena become Bible Grrrrl - so she doesn't cop out on her ideals, but shows her humanity. This is definitely a thought-provoking story, and not one that I've seen tackled quite in this way. I liked it a lot.