Jenkins never disappoints. Large format book with a few big pages crammed with a great diversity of life. One double-paged spread devoted to beetles. An excellent explanation of evolution suitable for young readers. No page numbers. ( )

Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution is a beautifully illustrated picture book that clearly outlines the complex concept of evolution. The author, Steve Jenkins, starts at the very of life on Earth and identifies when the first microscopic bacteria appeared on Earth. He provides hypotheses about where life began and does a great job of describing the characteristics that qualify something as living. Throughout the first eight pages or so, he creates a timeline with illustrations that demonstrate the increased complexity found in organisms on Earth over time, beginning 3.5 billion years ago. There isn't a distinct increment of time that the author uses; instead he discusses the major developments in evolutionary history, such as the first appearance of mammals or the extinction of dinosaurs. On each page he includes a few of the developments or events throughout time. Although the illustrations seem to imply that this book is meant for very young children, the complex topics and difficult vocabulary suggest that this book would actually be better suited for an older audience. The author mentions "nautiluses" and "amphibians" in passing without actually describing what these organisms are, which seems to assume that the reader should already be familiar with these terms. After the brief timeline of evolutionary history, the author introduces Darwin and his theory of natural selection, once again suggesting that this book is not meant for young children due to its complexity. The book's beautiful illustrations of natural selection acting on a frog population help demonstrate the natural mechanisms at work that allow evolution to occur. The author even discusses the concepts of variation and genetic mutations and how they may be harmful or helpful in a particular environment, as well as the process of speciation. The author goes on to discuss the fact that the planet is currently going through a mass extinction event and boldly states that "this one is being caused by humans." Scientific studies support this claim, but there is still some debate on whether the research may overestimate modern extinction rates because of the lack of available data. The author also includes a great graphic that shows the Earth's 4.5 billion-year history as if it was scaled down into a 24 hour day, which I think would have a big impact on young readers and help them understand just how recently humans evolved. Throughout the book, there are colorful illustrations of both living and extinct species, and at the end of the book, the author includes a key that includes all of the names of these organisms. There is also a section that suggests further reading, as well as a bibliography that isn't very extensive but demonstrates that the author has conducted sufficient research in order to write the book. I could definitely see myself using this in my 10th grade biology class to help break down the concepts of genetic variation and natural selection. ( )

Life On Earth is a cool entry level book that introduces the concepts related to evolution and the life and accomplishments of Charles Darwin. Because of this two fold purpose, the book could be categorized partly (and mostly) as a concept book and partly as a biography. The book includes references but I noticed at least one inaccuracy and that was in equating the terms survival of the fittest and natural selection which are related but not the same. The book has a descent scope covering the basic ideas behind evolution, natural selection, and genetics. The depth is not very substantial but is a good introductory level for younger students. It is also complimented by nice artwork representing many animals and concepts. The tone although dry and rudimentary is clear and has little background expectations. The organization includes section heads and in the end a timeline. There is also an identification key for certain pages filled with pictures of organisms. Overall I liked this book as an introduction for lower elementary school children the ideas related to evolution. This should be a concept presented early in education because there are so many factors that depend on its reasoning in the natural world. ( )

This book does a great job of explaining how evolution works and of summarizing how life on Earth got to where it is today. It also covers the development of the Theory of Evolution. Evolution can be difficult for people to understand, but this book does an excellent job of succinctly explaining how traits are passed on to offspring and how natural selection works, without mentioning DNA, since the audience is a little young to understand that part. I especially enjoyed the illustration showing how the slow, weak frogs get eaten by a fox, snakes, a fish, etc. while the high-jumping frog and the frog with good eyesight survive. Early in the book, I was concerned that the narrative was jumping through millions of years without a timeline to guide young readers, but at the end, there is a very stark timeline that really puts things into perspective. ( )

Jenkins provides an excellent overview of evolution and the development of life on earth, complete with his always awesome cut paper collage illustrations. He includes information on the beginning of life on earth, the various animals that appeared over the past 4.5 billion years, the theory of evolution (including how Darwin and others developed it), and variation and mutation. This would be a great place for elementary school children to start learning about evolution. ( )