Clarion Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution

I am homeschooling my child, partially because I don't want his education dumbed down so as not to offend the religious extremists (believe me, textbooks have been dumbed down and certain subjects are skipped simply to avoid offended parents). So,I have been looking for books appropriate for a young child that provide an overview the evolution of life on earth. I want to provide for him a sense of where he belongs within the big picture. This book accomplishes that.The book is listed for 9-12 year olds and elsewhere for 6-10 year olds. I just read it to my six year old and it took a little bit of work to keep him with it and a few explanations of what things meant, but to the book's credit (and his), he did stay with it. I would say its appropriate for 6-10 with an adult explaining it. 9-12 is more appropriate for independent reading.The complaint about man not being descended from apes is silly since humans are considered to be apes and are minimally descended from themselves. I'm assuming the author of that complaint has some point, but I don't think its one that in any way affects the value of this book.If I were to change one thing about the book, I would get rid of the comparison of the history of earth to now as being 24 hours. I think that just confuses the issue. Instead, provide the time line without the 24 hours and the concept will be visually communicated without the added problem to have to explain what 24 hour hours has to do with it.Highly recommended book.

I paid full price for this since I was looking for something colorful and simple to explain evolution to my twin daughters. The only reason I am awarding this four and not five stars is because only one of my daughters enjoyed reading it. The other found it uninteresting. The one who did read it, only bothered reading it once but absorbed a lot of the info. The book is light on wordiness and so it only briefly explains a limited number of key concepts. But this book was a good first stepping stone. After all, small kids only need bite sized chunks to fire their imaginations. Now in the year following reading it, both my kids have watched DVDs on Darwin and read about Mendel. They've also learned about the scientific method and love explaining to people the difference between a theory and hypothesis.BTW check out Quest Camps for your kids. My kids have gone to several summer residential camps and say "Quest is Best".Not only is Camp Quest the most fun, with best activities, best beds and best food. Also at the camp they learn critical thinking, humanism and to be proud atheists.My kids went to a British Quest Camp but I hear fantastic things also said about the American Quest Camps.

This book is a very broad survey of life on Earth basics for children new to learning about science, biology, and evolution. It's already proved invaluable in jumpstarting conversations with them about more specific points in evolutionary history (like horse evolution--in the book, there's a brief blurb about the first horses that led into a discussion about "toes" and grasslands and other specifics of their changes over time). My children are also able to make connections to other things that have read, learned, or noticed in other places, too, thanks in large part to the multitude of charming illustrations and varied species to support and flavor broad, boiled-down theoretical points. Fantastic classic picture-book with lots of opportunities for sparking interest, making connections, and explaining (in simple terms) the magnificence of evolutionary theory.

I purchased this book for my 6 year old niece after she initiated a playground discussion on the topic of God versus evolution (no kidding!). I thought she should have some more information besides just "well God doesn't have parents." She enjoys the illustrations, and can read it with assistance, but right now it's working better when her parents read it to her. The content itself is not above her head, it's just the vocabulary that is a stretch right now. It makes for very interactive reading with an adult helper (which is great!) and her parents think she'll be reading it on her own pretty soon. We're all very happy with it.

My 4h grade son and I love this book! The collage illustrations in the oversized book are simple, attractive and uncluttered. We discussed them and guessed how they are made.The text is also clear and uncluttered. My son found it easy to understand. We especially liked the part on Natural Selection which showed a bunch of frogs and how only the fitest survived.The heads of several of Darwin's finches are shown to illustrate the difference in their beaks, and it points out how each beak is suited to the birds' diet.Highly Recommended