Grandmother Fish: A Child's First Book of Evolution

I'm sure I'm a bit biased as an evolutionary biologist here, but I really like this book. I especially like that the book can easily be geared toward multiple ages. The main story is great from any age, but as the child gets older, there is more depth added with the evolutionary trees and example species included. The emphasis on shared features and use of familiar relationship nomenclature (eg grandmother) really helps emphasize the shared relationships we have with these creatures.

It's incredibly important to raise children with scientific literacy and an understanding on how the natural world actually works. A joy for any secular parent and an absolute necessity for everyone else. Make facts louder than opinions. Evolution is a fact. Teach your children reality.

I think this book makes evolution very accessible to children and really opens your mind to a new level of imagination going back so many generations that you can't even calculate anymore. How many generations are in a million years? And how many millions of years of evolution have passed since our ancestors were fish? I love these questions. I grew up both religious and very open to scientific learning. This is a great twist on the story of origins because rather than going back to a purported Grandma Eve, we get to keep going back to Grandma Fish. It helps me feel so connected to the whole natural world, all my cousins of all shapes and sizes climbing trees and dwelling in deserts and forests, not just apes, but dogs and cats and squirrels and elephants and horses and rabbits, etc. I love the emotional bonding and compassion we can experience with all living beings. I have almost always had pets all of my more than 50 years. I hope this book inspires children to feel a deeper kinship and responsibility toward everything living and sharing our world with us.

I've had to read this book literally every night for bedtime for the past three months. My kids have it memorized. They insist on trying out every single skill that is learned. They're especially fond of the grabbing and cuddling skills. The tree of life diagram in back a nice touch. We've had many discussions at this point about why Neanderthals went extinct, what is a Bonobo, can mushrooms think? Thank God for google. I do not recommend this book if you don't have access to either google, a public library, or a decent set of encyclopedias. Good luck.

WE LOVE THIS BOOK!!!! We have a digital copy of this book (that's how I knew how awesome it was) and just had to have a physical copy as well! Purchased for our 3yo and read at bedtime, this book is easy and fun for her to follow and recite/read along to. She has so much fun acting out the different characteristics of each grandmother, (wiggle, crawl, squeak, etc..) and the concept of grandmothers in general is easy for her to understand. It presents the idea of commonality in a beautifully simple way. A wonderful introduction for a spongy young mind. The book itself is well made with sturdy pages and has beautiful artwork, especially of grandmother fish herself. If you only buy one book on this subject for your child, it should be this one!

Very simple explanation of Evolution that's discussed in our family as we also study and love dinosaurs, sharks, and all manner of creatures! We got this when our son was 4. At 6 he has really gotten into the last page with the family tree! He's fascinated with which creatures are closer related and why.

I love this book so much! It’s so beautifully written and illustrated and I love the message even more. This book is perfect for the younger reader (or parent reader) to help understand what evolution is really about. Very well done!

Adorable book to add to our secular homeschool curriculum. I wish I had bought it for my daughter when she was younger. It would of been better for her age 4-5 instead of 7. She had a sorta "meh I know this already" attitude but did enjoy the pictures and how cute everything is. Hoping to use it later on with evolution worksheets.

I can't imagine how my life would be different if I had this book growing up. Everyone should come up in the world understand the most beautiful thing that science has yet uncovered...that all life is connected! Far from being a controversial theory, evolution is the one underlying principle in biology. This book makes the basic tenets of evolution clear for all audiences, and is a beautifully illustrated and charming book. I'm giving it to all my nieces and nephews!

I bought this for my 5 year old. Very simple to read. Felt like this is a must for 3-4 year olds

I'm sure I'm a bit biased as an evolutionary biologist here, but I really like this book. I especially like that the book can easily be geared toward multiple ages. The main story is great from any age, but as the child gets older, there is more depth added with the evolutionary trees and example species included. The emphasis on shared features and use of familiar relationship nomenclature (eg grandmother) really helps emphasize the shared relationships we have with these creatures.

It's incredibly important to raise children with scientific literacy and an understanding on how the natural world actually works. A joy for any secular parent and an absolute necessity for everyone else. Make facts louder than opinions. Evolution is a fact. Teach your children reality.

I think this book makes evolution very accessible to children and really opens your mind to a new level of imagination going back so many generations that you can't even calculate anymore. How many generations are in a million years? And how many millions of years of evolution have passed since our ancestors were fish? I love these questions. I grew up both religious and very open to scientific learning. This is a great twist on the story of origins because rather than going back to a purported Grandma Eve, we get to keep going back to Grandma Fish. It helps me feel so connected to the whole natural world, all my cousins of all shapes and sizes climbing trees and dwelling in deserts and forests, not just apes, but dogs and cats and squirrels and elephants and horses and rabbits, etc. I love the emotional bonding and compassion we can experience with all living beings. I have almost always had pets all of my more than 50 years. I hope this book inspires children to feel a deeper kinship and responsibility toward everything living and sharing our world with us.

I've had to read this book literally every night for bedtime for the past three months. My kids have it memorized. They insist on trying out every single skill that is learned. They're especially fond of the grabbing and cuddling skills. The tree of life diagram in back a nice touch. We've had many discussions at this point about why Neanderthals went extinct, what is a Bonobo, can mushrooms think? Thank God for google. I do not recommend this book if you don't have access to either google, a public library, or a decent set of encyclopedias. Good luck.

WE LOVE THIS BOOK!!!! We have a digital copy of this book (that's how I knew how awesome it was) and just had to have a physical copy as well! Purchased for our 3yo and read at bedtime, this book is easy and fun for her to follow and recite/read along to. She has so much fun acting out the different characteristics of each grandmother, (wiggle, crawl, squeak, etc..) and the concept of grandmothers in general is easy for her to understand. It presents the idea of commonality in a beautifully simple way. A wonderful introduction for a spongy young mind. The book itself is well made with sturdy pages and has beautiful artwork, especially of grandmother fish herself. If you only buy one book on this subject for your child, it should be this one!

Very simple explanation of Evolution that's discussed in our family as we also study and love dinosaurs, sharks, and all manner of creatures! We got this when our son was 4. At 6 he has really gotten into the last page with the family tree! He's fascinated with which creatures are closer related and why.

I love this book so much! It’s so beautifully written and illustrated and I love the message even more. This book is perfect for the younger reader (or parent reader) to help understand what evolution is really about. Very well done!

Adorable book to add to our secular homeschool curriculum. I wish I had bought it for my daughter when she was younger. It would of been better for her age 4-5 instead of 7. She had a sorta "meh I know this already" attitude but did enjoy the pictures and how cute everything is. Hoping to use it later on with evolution worksheets.

I can't imagine how my life would be different if I had this book growing up. Everyone should come up in the world understand the most beautiful thing that science has yet uncovered...that all life is connected! Far from being a controversial theory, evolution is the one underlying principle in biology. This book makes the basic tenets of evolution clear for all audiences, and is a beautifully illustrated and charming book. I'm giving it to all my nieces and nephews!

I bought this for my 5 year old. Very simple to read. Felt like this is a must for 3-4 year olds

My niece loved it and the family also loves it as well. My Aunt who is a teacher apparently wants to get a copy to read to her students as she was really impressed with it :) As a person going into the Natural Sciences I really love this book and how it explains the concept of evolution in an understandable way. It also has tips at the end for parents in how to explain certain concepts to children as well as clearing up possible misconceptions many people tend to have when it comes to evolution. It has things both children and adults can appreciate and I would highly recommend it.

This is such a great book, and I’ve really enjoyed watching it grow with my kids. As toddlers they loved doing the actions and making the sounds. As preschoolers it’s exciting to watch the concepts come together more and more in their heads as they start to understand the tree of life concept and the interrelatedness of all things. We really enjoy spending time looking at the tree of life together in the back and tracing the origins of, for example, our family dog versus ourselves to see how she is related to us and where her “grandmothers” branched off from ours.

My kids love this book! The only draw back, as a bedtime book, is that there's a page that encourages them to crawl and another that encourages them to walk. Great for non-bedtime though! Both my 2 year old and 5 year old have requested it regularly.

I was so excited to get this book! My 3 yo daughter has been asking about where babies came from - after thoroughly reviewing reproduction, she was like "no, i mean, before there were any mamas or papas or eggs or sperm, where did babies come from?" I had no idea how to talk her through evolution in an accessible way, so I ordered this book (with one-day shipping, i seriously couldn't wait). we read it as soon as it was dropped off. I'll admit, it's incredibly difficult to tailor this sort of discussion to a 3yo, but that's how this book is marketed so I am going to review it as a book for 3 year olds. I just don't think it does a great job. My daughter was much more confused after reading this, how the heck does grandmother reptile have a mammal baby? Why? It makes it seem like a very quick process, like grandma fish just gave birth to a reptile. She didn't understand any part of the story the way it was written. She did like the actions - wiggling like a fish, hooting like an ape - but the idea that we share some of those characteristics with our ancient relatives was lost on her. The illustrations are nice. In the end, My approach was to focus only on the apes and humans pages. I talked her through how grandma ape had so many different kinds of babies, and one looked a little more like a human than the others. And then that ape had a lot of babies, and one of those babies looked even more like a human. Then I showed her that classic "Evolution of Man" picture and that seemed to clear things up a bit more. Now she knows that before there were babies, there were apes. It seems like the authors could have explored one step in evolution in more depth so the process was clearer. But - I am happy that these sorts of books are being written, and I applaud the authors for their respect of young kids' true curiosity about the world around them. :)

I've been enchanted by Darwinian evolution since college, and I wanted to share that love with my 4 year old son. This book allowed me to do that, as it was a total hit! Wonderfully illustrated, fun, and accessible for kids.

Absolutely loved this, but not as much as my three year old! We’ve read it 10 times and have had it less than a day.

My three year old son absolutely loved this book, and my husband and I were incredibly impressed by how simple yet accurate the book was. The layout was beautiful and there was so much interesting detail. This will definitely be a favorite book for many years to come!

Excellent book written in a charmingly simple style that kids of all ages will enjoy. The pictures are lovely as well. It takes a complex subject and simplifies it without loosing any of the mystery and grandeur this subject evokes.

This is a perfect book to introduce evolution to kids. It’s fun and interactive and follows a very easy-to-follow progression. The materials at the end of the book really help answer further questions the kids have and give you ideas about how to explain things. It hits the nail on the head by meeting kids exactly where they are developmentally and providing parents the resources to expand when necessary.

This is one of my 5yo's favorite bedtime stories, and he's *really* getting a sense of how evolution works, between this and the polar bear explanation in the recent version of "Cosmos." The illustrations are just beautiful, too.

It is such a fun, active way to describe evolution to kids of all ages. We LOVE this book in our family (currently 5 year old twins).

I LOVE this book. And my little ones love it too! Great for preschoolers. It answers questions and creates more questions! Plus it’s super cute! I am so happy I found this book, it’s exactly what I was looking for!

This book is fantastic. Great for introducing the theory of evolution to littles and has expanded info in the back to go further in depth as kiddos get older. My 3 year old loved it. We originally checked it out from the library. He got upset we had to give it back so I had to snag this for our collection at home.

I bought this book as a gift for the Religious Education department at my Unitarian Universalist Church. It is an absolutely wonderful introduction to evolution (common descent in particular) for very young children. The illustrations are colorful and remarkably accurate for a very young kids book. Though it's obviously meant to be read aloud to a very young child, or group of children, but because it's illustrated so well, it can also be enjoyed by a pre-reader just paging through it. Probably the best feature of the book is the way it allows for the kids to physically participate in the reading in that it asks the kids to wiggle like a fish etc. Kids just love this sort of thing.

I love having a fable style story about evolution!!! Thanks for making such s great book for my bitty budding scientist.

I am using this as part of our homeschool curriculum this year. It’s a cute book and I think the kids will respond well to it.

Baby shower gift for the first niece -- I read through it twice before wrapping it up. Such a great book and I love the helpful tips to parents at the end. I can't wait to actually have my niece old enough too "wiggle" or "chomp, chomp" together as we read it.

This book lays the groundwork for a child’s understanding of evolution. It’s not super detailed and overwhelming so is best for preschool to early elementary aged.

My kids love this book. It's a fun bedtime story that invites curiosity and they get to learn a bit. The kids asking for it has even encouraged the grandparents to ask a few questions.

This is a great way to teach early readers about the scientific theory of evolution!! The wording is simple enough that the young reader can easily understand the pages, but still puts it in an appropriate perspective. there are "parent/babysitter" pages at the end, explaining evolution in greater detail, and how to teach your children based on your own personal beliefs. 5/5 STARS. THIS BOOK IS FANTASTIC!!!

A perfect book to describe the origin of life at an age appropriate level for my 5 year old special needs son.

Great introduction to evolution. Takes a big concept and breaks it down nicely.

Perfect for early elementary and preschool. This book breaks the concept down so small kids can easily understand. beautiful illustrations and engaging. Not just a cute story, it facilitates deeper discussion!

I love this book! What a simple way to explain evolution in a way kids can grasp. I am really happy I got this book.

This book presents the concept of evolutionary relationships to the young reader in an easy to understand format

Perfect story for my 4 yr. Old granddaughter. Nicely illustrated.

A lovely and simple introduction to evolution for young children. My four-year old niece wanted to hear this over and over.

this is an awesome book. very interactive and engaging. beautifully written and illustrated.

What a smart book! My 4 year old loves it, as do the adults. The pictures are cute.

This book is awesome!! I have two toddlers, and they both love it. Such a great way to introduce them to evolution. A fun, interactive book that makes evolution accessible to the littlest of readers :)

Beautiful. . . Even as an adult, this speaks to me! Bought 1 for a friend who's having his first child.

Read it to my daughter for the first time yesterday and loved it! Beautiful illustrations accompany a simple introduction to evolution, with some slightly more advanced info in the last few pages, for when your child is ready for a little more knowledge. Highly recommend!

I have long looked for a book on evolution for children, as those in my life often ask about evolution. I am so very happy that I stumbled upon this one while I still have lots of young grandchildren. The subject is so cleverly depicted and beautifully rendered that it's an instant favorite with us. I love how it encourages children to reflect on some abilities that they have, which they have inherited from our ancestors - inspiring them to act out those abilities while reading the book. So great for young children! Another reviewer mentioned that it contains elements that make it useful for older children as well, and I have to agree with that. I came online today to purchase another copy for the grandchildren who live far away. I could not be more pleased with the depth of knowledge presented in such a simple way that is also gorgeous to look at.

Good book

Wonderful book. I'm so glad it exists.

Im using it to introduce evolution to my daughter and she loves the pictures and explanations. Its a great book tr o help start the introduction for young minds.

Kids love reading this. Ask for it out of all the books we have on the shelf. Illustrates the common ancestry of life in an understandable way.

I love this book so much. It's incredibly refreshing to see science and evidence based children's books as an option. This is a beautiful, simple, easy to understand book. It's interactive, in a sense, "Did you drink mommy's milk? Can you hoot?" it kept my kids interested (1&4) and really lays down a foundation of learning based on fact. Planting seeds and what not. There are a few negative reviews, that's from the science illiterate who have NOT read or purchased this book. While reading reviewsome keep in mind that we live in a society where evolution is controversy.

This book may be my favorite purchase of the year. When I selected it as a book to read to my four year old granddaughter I suspected that, as a book about evolution, it would be one of those books that I would like and she would not. Was I wrong! It quickly became her favorite book. The first time I read it with her she made me read it three times in a rows each time acting out the wiggling, cuddling, grabbing. Then at bedtime I started to read her another book, but she asked, "Could you go downstairs and get that book about Grandmother Fish?" The book is brilliantly conceived and executed. I was fascinated that a four year old would find it so comforting that she would want it to be the last book read to her before she fell asleep.

Brilliant story explaining the truth for young children. Beware of the religious extremests who think the world is 6000 years old and this book is fake. The arguments they offer are not based in science but in superstition and religious mumbo-jumbo. This is a book every parent should read to their children....

Fabulous book. My son loves its engaging story and beautiful art, and has a great time acting out the various verbs for each evolutionary stage (especially "hoot"!). We like the solid science -- especially the section in the back for parents/older kids that answers FAQs and addresses common misconceptions about evolution. We liked it so much that after we received our first copy, we immediately bought a second one for his preschool to keep.

My 2 1/2 year old daughter loves this book. She loves doing the actions it asks about and pointing out the descendants.

The expecting parents in our family loved the book , and as the Grandmother I hope to read it to the our new baby soon! Merry Christmas!

Our 5 year old was starting to ask a lot of questions that were getting difficult to answer in a way he would understand. This book does a really nice job of explaining evolution on a child's level. I think this will be a good tool for us over the next few years to help understand the science of it all.

Great fun and everyone learns

Excellent resource for teaching evolution to your children that is fun and well put together. My boy likes chanting the line that gets longer with each "step" as you get deeper into the story with me as i read it to him. He's now super into carnivorous plants, bacteriophages, and sea critters like cuttlefish, octopuses, and sea anemones partly because we'd watch videos about the various critters in the book because he would want to know more which leads to wikipedia and youtube surfing and stuff I didn't even know about. It would be neat to have more books covering different branches or kingdoms of life with the same quality of text and art.

I love this book so much. This has taken 1st place in my Foster child's book ranking list which is surprising because she is generally into the Disney books or any of the other mainstream children's books. Finding something educational that the kids actually enjoy is as close to a miracle as i believe you can get. The pictures are truly works of art and that makes it easier for the adults involved. The kids also ask questions and think about things every time we read this. If you want to raise children with problem solving skills and kids that are curious about the world this book is a must.

I was interested in introducing my toddler to science concepts - including evolution. I was a little hesitant because it I expected that any coverage of evolution would be too complex for a toddler and it would sit with other books until he was over 6. I was very pleased, the book is fun and informative. It prompts kids to “chomp” and “crawl” and other activities that kids love. My toddler wants this read every night.

My young children have enjoyed my reading this picture book about evolution. And they get it. The pictures are large and clear. I like how the author names (grandmother fish/reptile/mammal/ape/human) and then describes with two action words our ancestors and their cousins. Two action words describe grandmother fish, but ten action words describe us humans. This makes sense. The several pages at the back have been helpful for me, a former English teacher, in understanding my evolutionary past.

Fantastic book! Our son is 2.5 years old and loved it! The artwork is great and the message is delivered simply. Don't think it's not worth it b/c there are more explanations written in the back of the book as a guide to slowly deliver more knowledge to children as they grow. I LOVE that it was advised by scientists! Those that believe in creationism have plenty of "Garden of Eden" and "Noah's Ark" books and this is a great tool for those who believe in evolution to have something to show our children.

I got this when my son was 2 and he is now 3 and it is one of his favorite books. He loves to act out the parts where they describe what the reptiles, mammals, apes, etc. can do (chomp, craw, squeek, etc). Initially I thought this book was too complex for him to grasp, but I now realize that is is really pretty simple and he gets enough of it for us to build on as he gets older. I love the evolution map at the back of the book and he has a lot of fun mapping out how fish became cats, for example.

Awesome book! I bought this for my son - who, while too young to understand yet (currently ~8mo), loves the pictures & stares with rapt attention when I read it to him. I know it'll be one we reach for a lot when he gets older. It's put in language that's easy for young children to grasp while still conveying the broad concept of evolution. It's definitely a good starting point for a lifetime of learning :) The illustrations are great too! And it has a very helpful resource page in the back for parents to provide more information or to help answer questions a child (or adult!) may have. I wish I could get a copy for every kid in my life!

I really loved how this book was done. It is written clearly and simply enough for my 3 year old to start to understand. It had really nice evolution trees and a cute story to go with it. I think this is my favorite evolution book I've read so far, especially for a preschooler.

I have a degree in biology, and I wanted to get something for my friend's kids that would remind them of me when they read it. This is a cute book that they really enjoy, and I love that they can still learn basics of evolution at such a young age.

This book is incredible. The artwork is beautiful, the story is compelling, and the educational component is presented at a good level for children. My 5 year old LOVES it, and it is so fun to watch him wiggling and chomping and such as the book prompts him to do so. He also loves to go through the evolutionary trees to examine all of the "grandmothers" and "cousins."

excellent book! my 3-year old loves it, and asks for it to be read multiple times in a row. there is an "evolution tree" at the end of it, he loves to look at it, point out all the different animals, and talk about how we are all related to each other. kudos to the authors for making such a complex concept (which many adults struggle to understand, as evidenced by some of the reviews here) accessible to kids!

If evolution is difficult to explain to adults, it is harder to explain to children! This beautiful book does a wonderful job of breaking it down into terms a small child can understand. I especially liked the depiction of the human family at the end of the story, with all its lovely diversity and children holding toys that reference earlier parts of the book. The cherry on top is the section at the end of the book that is written for parents, teachers and babysitters, etc. It provides more information to the adults reading this book so that they may answer questions about evolution and feel confident doing so. This book is very well done and we have ordered two more to share!

I got this for my 3yo and couldn't be happier. It is simple enough that she can follow along and make sense of it and there are some sections that go into more detail that will be good as she gets older (but don't take away from the story).

My 5 year old granddaughter was asking about the idea of evolution so I went looking for an age appropriate book. This is really really well done and she's asked to have it read many times. The illustrations allow for as much or as little discussion as the child is ready for. I have recommended it to many others!

I love reading this to my kids! They like doing the actions, and reading the “long, long, long time ago” parts with me. It feels good to get my kids started off on the right foot with a science based understanding of where they came from.

There are very few actual science picture books. Board books and elementary school books, but a gap in between. This was well written and well drawn, and my little asks for it to be read to her, which means she likes it.

How is this Jonathan Tweet’s only children’s book!?! This is one of the most accessible versions of evolution I’ve ever read, in a cadence that children not only understand but enjoy. Seriously - it’s the first book my daughter has ever “read” to me, as she’s memorized it and loves to go through it line by line. Thank you for this book. Its existence is a gift.

Kids LOVE this book! (Who doesn't like to play along with an interactive book?) I've been reading it to every kid or group of kids I can find, and it's a hit. I bought several dozen by now, as gifts and to re-sell along with my own children's book. They go nicely together. Highly recommend it. Mine is here:

I read a review of this book on NPR by Barbara J. King and was inspired to buy it. It's a wonderful book for teaching evolution to younger children. My 4-year-old likes it and I'm thinking of getting it for my middle school classroom (I am a teacher) to have as a supplementary book when we study evolution.

Based on the reviews, I was expecting a bit more from this book. The illustrations are very well done, but the storyline could have been better in my opinion, and included more information. In the back of the book there is a section giving more information, but throughout the story itself, it's basically just saying this animal came after that animal, they could walk (for example), "can you walk?" I can understand the thought process behind this, giving more opportunity for involvement by asking "can you do this?," and that part I like. I do think though, that more information could have been given throughout the storyline while still keeping it kid friendly. All that being said, I purchased this as a Christmas gift and still intend of giving it. It's not bad, it's just alright. I'd say as an introduction to evolution, this book is best for initiating a conversation where you can give more explanation on your own.

Only one objection from me: why do we move straight from fish to reptiles? I was disappointed that amphibians were left out. Otherwise a great book.

We love this book, it supports and teaches an evolution science for kids. The images are fun and easy to follow showing how different species branch in a way my daughter can easily understand. Would recommend this book to everyone.

I absolutely applaud the author for making a book to introduce the topic of evolution to small children. The number of books on this topic is extremely lacking, and it fills a nice niche. The artwork is great, and it introduces the topic in a way that kids can understand. Unfortunately, what I find missing in this book is a compelling story. I read it to my son, and he got bored of it very quickly. If the book had a story line and a consistent character that you could follow through the time line, I think my son would have enjoyed it. But since the first read, he hasn't wanted to look at it again.

This has proved to be an excellent introduction to evolution for my four year old. The art is fantastic. Evolutionary divergence is presented in a very clear way. It’s one of our go to science books during our nightly story time.

Fantastic book, great illustrations and tries to get the reader to interact by asking if they can do certain things that were learned through evolution of the species.

An age appropriate intro to evolution! My 5 year old loves reading this.

This is a terrific book. I read it to my two year old grandson, and he paid attention! But it's also one of those books that you could give to a ten year old. I learned a lot about evolution also.

The BEST introductory book for a crucial concept!! It demonstrates the physical links between our bodies and our ancestors', and that kind of intimate understanding is fantastic. Has useful info for parents to explain further concepts like natural selection. Make sure your library has a copy!

My son is 4 and asks for this book every night! It's a great, simple way to explain evolution for young kids to understand and it has interactions to keep them interested! ...[S]he could wiggle. Can you wiggle?

Fun book to introduce change over time, love the repetition as children catch on quick and it helps reinforce memorization

We bought this book to help explain to our toddler the concepts of evolution. And it turns out that the positive reviews were still an undersell! As a biologist, I find it to be one of the best, most approachable paths to explaining evolution that anyone can learn.

Excellent expression of the tree of life from our point of view as humans. Manages to express both the family relationships and behavioral innovations in a book that closely follows successful children's book conventions. I highly recommend it.

I wish it went a little more into biology. My 4 year old was confused why they are all "grandmas."

My grandson loved it. It was easy enough for the kindergartener to make out many of the words and the questions asked amused him. Well, worth the money

A gift to my Grandson. His parent says the book is very appropriate for a 3 to 4 year old and explains things without needing arithmetic. And the kid loves the pictures. They are happy with this book.

Satisfied

Great for classrooms to introduce evolution from elementary through high school.

Turns out to be a bit young for my kids, but I am excited to give it to another child for the holidays this year. Great, easy introduction to evolution, not heavy-handed in the least, and cute illustrations.

This is such a simple explanation for kids when learning about where we come from. Its illustrations are beautiful and colorful. My son loves flipping through the pages. I am going to recommend this for our county library.

Excellent book for kids. My 6 year old really enjoyed it and it is helping him begin to understand how evolution works.

Verified by our HS science teacher-good stuff for the littles! And they LOVE it!!

Cute book! The pictures are very colorful and detailed. I am using this for a science class to have students identify all of the misconceptions about evolution in the book. The book also includes this information in the back to help educate the readers! Just thought this would be a fun and interactive way for students to learn using a children's book!

My son loves it. Great jumping off point to start discussions of evolution.

My 2.5 year old loves it! And there's some great additional information so this book will grow with her. Only complaint I have is that my printing of the book must have come off the press too quickly because the one set of pages has ink transfer - not the end of the world but it is less attractive on those pages.

This book is great! It includes a really cute evolutionary family tree in the back that's easy to follow.

Great intro to evolution! Some adults needs to read this to see why there are still primates!!

This is a simple and fantastic introduction to evolution for children. It's quickly becoming a favorite in our house.

Engaging young minds with scientific concepts like evolution can be tough, but books like this one lower the barrier to entry (in the best way!) and really do a great job of getting kids minds and imaginations moving! The illustrations are great and it's an easy enough read for our first grader, but complex enough of a subject that our 6th grader couldn't put it down. Prepare yourself for lots of questions!

This is a beautiful, well written book. My 4 year old absolutely loves wiggling, chomping, and hooting along with the book. He loves looking at the family tree in the back and pointing out all his favorite "cousins." My 1.5 year old is quickly growing to love it as well.

Beautiful images. Thoughtful and fun to read. Would definitely recommend this book.

Was hoping for something with a little more substance. Bought this for seven year-old girls. Better for 3-5 year-olds.

Love this clever, but simple book. It gives kids the basic ideas of natural selection and variation. Great way to introduce them to evolutionary science.

A beautiful, simple introduction to evolution. Scaled down concepts for children without being "dumbed down." Covers the idea of diversification, heritable traits and geologic time-frames with elegant simplicity. Loved the end pages of information for parents of children with more/ deeper-probing questions. Would recommend over and over.

This book is amazing! A fantastic introduction to evolution. Well written, beautiful illustrations, and best of all explains a complex concept in a poetic way thato can grow with the kiddo. My 2 year old absolutely LOVES it! This will definitely be on my short list for amazing children's books to recommend and give as a gift.

There are a very few children's books on evolution, but this one by far is the best one yet. It is important to teach kids evolution and science. This can be a touchy subject for some parents because they may not want to refute or reject creationism. However, it is necessary to teach kids both creationism and evolution to give them a better perspective. You can visit the website (http://www.grandmotherfish.com/) where there is a video showing parents reading the book to their kids and their kids reactions.

Beautiful book bought for my 2.5 year old.

Good book, beautifully illustrated. Explains evolution in accessible way for young children.

I really enjoyed reading this book to my daughter. She was curious to find out what was on the next page and she was very engaged. This was a great buy.

This is a beautiful simple explanation of evolution

Great illustrations, difficult concepts expressed in an easy to understand way. We really love this book.

the book is suited for young kids. this is a type of book that you would read to them

Nice book! Beautiful illustrations.

My children absolutely LOVE this book!

My granddaughter loves this book.

My 3 year old loves it. Asks for it everynight . :)

I think I like this book even more than my kids. 👏

A Magnificent book. Read to a 6yo who loved it. Engendered a lot of discussion in the days after it about evolution and animals. A great learning experience he will remember for years to come. I look forward to re-reading it with him.

Love this book. It explains the science in a way my 4yo can grasp and is very well written. One of our favorite bedtime stories!!!!!

Perfect introduction to evolution. Well written story and the explanation for parents at the end of the book is perfect. The human page represents a good diversity too

Love this gentle introduction to the evolutionary tree. Lovely illustrations and easy to understand.

Good explanation!

Five stars for the book. Seriously. This book puts evolution into a package that children can understand, and I think that the illustrations and charts are more complete than any I saw in middle and maybe high school. That being said, my copy of the book arrived with all of the pages falling out of the binding--they had not made contact with any of the glue. Because this book is out of stock everywhere, I taped the pages in instead of sending it back. I hope this was an anomaly and not the norm.

Highly recommend this. My 3 year old loves it, as do I.

The book presents the fundamental ideas of evolution in a beautiful, easy to understand way. My daughter loves the illustrations and we had lots of fun looking over the tree of life at the end. Every child should get to see this book!

My 6 year old loved it! It has very pretty pictures and is engaging.

❤️

Turned out to be a really nice book. Love the art work as well.

Beautiful illustrations. We absolutely love this book!

Great book.

Wonderful illustrations help set some of the fundamental concepts of evolution. Also has a guide for adults teaching the concepts to help avoid common misunderstandings.

Absolutely fantastic! A great interactive book with learning info for children and parents.

Great book, fun and educational. Kids love it.

This book was a perfect way to introduce this theory to my 6 year old son. He loves the book and it has helped him start to ask more questions.

love. love. love

Cute illustrations. I particularly like the tree of evolution, the glossary, and the Q & A in the back.

I like the book very much but it arrived with a damaged page.

Great book for the youngin.

Every child should have this book.

this book is not really about evolution, but it may be OK for small kids like 3-4 year olds, but definitely too simple for school age kids

Very good

Could be better, still enjoy reading it and my son gets the idea of it. Kind of repetitive though.

I don't get all the hype for this book. I returned it. There is no story... cool illustrations but not enough for my 4 yo.. its definitly for younger kids.

I can’t review content because “item is not compatible with this device” namely, my iPhone and iPad, both with the updated Kindle App and lots of storage space. Very frustrating!

GRANDMOTHER FISH: A CHILD’S FISH BOOK OF EVOLUTION by Jonathan Tweet explores the concept of evolution using easy to understand examples. The picture book introduces each branch on the tree of life with familiar examples and engages readers through active questioning. The consistent format, colorful illustrations, and predictable approach contribute to the book’s appeal. The end notes include an evolutionary tree of life, science notes for parents, and ideas for explaining natural selection to children. Librarians will find this well-written book to be a useful addition to the primary grade science curriculum. Involve students in exploring a branch of the evolutionary tree of life and create a mural in the library. To learn more about the book and author, go to [...]. Published by Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan on September 6, 2016. ARC courtesy of the publisher.

Travel back with me through the Earth’s history, back into the farthest reaches of time when the sand we walk today was still rock and the oceans of an entirely salination. Back back back we go to, oh about 13 years ago, I’d say. I was a library grad student, and had just come to the shocking realization that the children’s literature class I’d taken on a lark might actually yield a career of some sort. We were learning the finer points of book reviewing (hat tip to K.T. Horning’s “From Cover to Cover” there) and to hone our skills each of us was handed a brand new children’s book, ready for review. I was handed “Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story” by Lisa Westberg Peters, illustrated by Lauren Stringer. It was good, so I came up with some kind of a review. It was, now that I think about it, the very first children’s book review I ever wrote (talk about evolution). And I remember at the time thinking (A) How great it was to read a picture book on the topic and (B) That with my limited knowledge of the field there were probably loads and loads of books out there about evolution for small children. Fun Fact: There aren’t. Actually, in the thirteen years between then and now I’ve not seen a single evolution themed picture book come out since the Peters/Stringer collaboration. Until now. Because apparently two years before I ran across “Our Family Tree” author Jonathan Tweet was trying to figure out why there were so few books on the subject on the market. It took him a while, but he finally got his thoughts in order and wrote this book. Worth the wait and possibly the only book we may need on the subject. For a while, anyway. Let’s start with a fish. We’ll call her Grandmother Fish and she lived “a long, long, long, long, long time ago.” She did familiar fishy things like “wiggle” and “chomp”. And then she had ancestors and they turned out to be everything from sharks to ray-finned fish to reptiles. That’s when you meet Grandmother Reptile, who lived “a long, long, long, long time ago.” From reptiles we get to mammals. From mammals to apes. And from apes to humans. And with each successive iteration, they carry with them the traits of their previous forms. Remember how Grandmother Fish could wiggle and chomp? Well, so can every subsequent ancestor, with some additional features as well. The final image in the book shows a wide range of humans and they can do the things mentioned in the book before. Backmatter includes a more complex evolutionary family tree, a note on how to use this book, a portion “Explaining Concepts of Evolution”, a guide “to the Grandmothers, Their Actions, and Their Grandchildren for your own information to help you explain evolution to your child”, and finally a portion on “Correcting Common Errors” (useful for both adults and kids). What are the forbidden topics of children’s literature? Which is to say, what are the topics that could be rendered appropriate for kids but for one reason or another never see the light of day? I can think of a couple off the top of my head, an evolution might be one of them. To say that it’s controversial in this, the 21st century, is a bit odd, but we live in odd times. No doubt the book’s creators have already received their own fair share of hate mail from folks who believe this content is inappropriate for their children. I wouldn’t be too surprised to hear that it ended up on ALA’s Most Challenged list of books in the future. Yet, as I mentioned before, finding ANY book on this subject, particularly on the young end of the scale, is near impossible. I am pleased that this book is filling such a huge gap in our library collections. Now if someone would just do something for the 7-12 year olds . . . When you are simplifying a topic for children, one of the first things you need to figure out from the get-go is how young you want to go. Are you aiming your book at savvy 6-year-olds or bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 3-year-olds? In the case of “Grandmother Fish” the back-story to the book is that creator Jonathan Tweet was inspired to write it when he couldn’t find a book for his daughter on evolution. We will have to assume that his daughter was on the young end of things since the final product is very clearly geared towards the interactive picture book crowd. Readers are encouraged to wiggle, crawl, breathe, etc. and the words proved capable of interesting both my 2-year-old son and my 5-year-old daughter. One would not know from this book that the author hadn’t penned picture books for kids before. The gentle repetition and clincher of a conclusion suggest otherwise. One problem with turning evolution into picture book fare is the danger of confusing the kids (of any age, really). If you play it that our ancestors were monkeys, then some folks might take you seriously. That’s where the branching of the tree becomes so interesting. Tweet and Lewis try hard to make it clear that though we might call a critter “grandmother” it’s not literally that kind of a thing. The problem is that because the text is so simple, it really does say that each creature had “many kinds of grandchildren.” Explaining to kids that this is a metaphor and not literal . . . well, good luck with that. You may find yourself leaning heavily on the “Correcting Common Errors” page at the end of the book, which aims to correct common misconceptions. There you will find gentle corrections to false statements like “We started as fish” or “Evolution progresses to the human form” or “We descended from one fish or pair of fish, or one early human or pair of early humans.” Of these Common Errors, my favorite was “Evolution only adds traits” since it was followed by the intriguing corrective, “Evolution also take traits away. Whales can’t crawl even though they’re descended from mammals that could.” Let’s talk about the bone structure of the dolphin’s flipper sometime, shall we? The accompanying “Explaining Concepts of Evolution” does a nice job of helping adults break down ideas like “Natural Selection” and “Artificial Selection” and “Descent with Modification” into concepts for young kids. Backmatter-wise, I’d give the book an A+. In terms of the story itself, however, I’m going with a B. After all, it’s not like every parent and educator that reads this book to kids is even going to get to the backmatter. I understand the decisions that led them to say that each "Grandmother" had "grandchildren" but surely there was another way of phrasing it. This isn’t the first crowd-sourced picture book I’ve ever seen, but it may be one of the most successful. The reason is partly because of the subject matter, partly because of the writing, and mostly because of the art. Bad art sinks even the most well-intentioned of picture books out there. Now I don’t know the back-story behind why Tweet paired with illustrator Karen Lewis on this book, but I hope he counts his lucky stars every day for her participation. First and foremost, he got an illustrator who had done books for children before (“Arturo and the Navidad Birds” probably being her best known). Second, her combination of watercolors and digital art really causes the pages to pop. The colors in particular are remarkably vibrant. It’s a pleasure to watch them, whether close up for one-on-one readings, or from a distance for groups. Whether on her own or with Tweet’s collaboration, her clear depictions of the evolutionary “tree” is nice and fun. Plus, it’s nice to see some early humans who aren’t your stereotypical white cavemen with clubs, for once. I look at this book and I wonder what its future holds. Will a fair number of public school libraries purchase it? They should. Will parents like Mr. Tweet be able to find it when they wander aimlessly into bookstores and libraries? One can hope. And is it any good? It is. But you only have my word on that one. Still, if great grand numbers of perfect strangers can band together to bring a book to life on a topic crying out for representation on our children’s shelves, you’ve gotta figure the author and illustrator are doing something right. A book that meets and then exceeds expectations, tackling a tricky subject, in a divisive era of our history, to the betterment of all. Not too shabby for a fish. For ages 3-6.

Outstanding! Grandmother Fish is a book like no other I have seen. It is an introduction to evolution, for adults to read to their pre-school children. It is also much more than that, and comes with well-earned commendations from Stephen Pinker, David Sloan Wilson, and Daniel Dennett. Each stage has its own little phylogenetic tree, with the various descendants of each successive “grandmother” shown as each other’s cousins, and there is an overall tree, covering all living things, that anyone (of any age) will find interesting to browse on. Finally, after some 20 pages of simple text and lavish illustration, there are around 4 pages of more detailed information, directed at the adult reading the book, but to which I expect children to return, as they mature, remembering the book with affection, as they surely will, years or even decades later. The science behind the book is of high quality (disclosure: I am one of many scientists who commented on the drafts), and its transparent logic anticipates the standard creationist "arguments" against evolution. But most importantly, it conveys the authors' delight with nature, and with our ability to understand it. I recommend unreservedly.

A book that should be in every school and public library. Teaches the principles of evolution in terms that kids can understand, with helpful information in the back for adults. Not only does it get evolution right (unlike so many other books), it even corrects a number of misunderstandings in the back. Good science, good artwork, good story, something kids will love and learn from (without ever realizing they are learning). Brilliant!!

Wonderful! As a long-time preschool teacher, I've often wished for a more-accessible introduction to evolution, because, inevitably, someone will say "we come from monkeys," but not really understand at all what that means. This is by far the best first introduction I've seen. However, I also wanted to add (since most of the reviews are geared toward reading it with younger children), that I got it to read with my homeschooled 8-year-old daughter, and she said "that was the best book!" Even at 8, it's easy to have some misconceptions about evolution (heck, even as an adult!), and it's good to have such a clear visual and such a simple explanation (with extra information at the back if you're interested...which she is). As we read the reptile part, which was "a long, long, long, long time ago," she said "was that one less long?" (the fish was 5 longs ago), and was glad to note "good, it should be!" So clear and helpful. Also, this is the first book I can remember that shows early humans with dark skin; what a relief! Terrific on so many levels. I borrowed it from the library, but will be buying a copy.

Charming words and rhythm for a small child to read (and participate!) along. It's very clever how the author chooses two actions for each animal and then builds on to them for each following animal, showing on characteristics are passed down. For example, grandmother fish has jaws to CHOMP; when we move on to grandmother reptile, she also has jaws to CHOMP and legs to CRAWL. Grandmother mammal can CHOMP and CRAWL and CUDDLE (nurse), and so on. I love it and my kids love it! It's educational without being dull or didactic, and well-suited as a read-aloud for toddlers and preschoolers.

I love this book. It's well written, colorful, and fills an unfortunate gap in young children's education. My daughter's generation needs to be encouraged to accept the science behind our species and the world we live in. My 3 year old loves reading this with me and I encourage you to purchase it.

I participated in the Kickstarter for this book and our copy arrived right around the time my son turned 4. He is already into dinosaurs and animals and learning everything about them so this was a perfect fit. He wanted me to read it to him every night for the first two weeks we owned it. I think the best part is the interactive portion where it asks you to "wiggle" or "crawl" really got him engaged and he loved hearing the names of all the grandmother's children. I would recommend this book to any parent who wants their children to understand how all life is connected. It is wonderful to see my son connect the dots about how all life on earth is related in one way or another.

I'm not sure who loves this book more - me or my kids! As an ecologist searching for a good book to introduce my kiddos to evolution, I was fortunate enough to stumble across it in the early stages of its kickstarter campaign and am so excited about how it turned out. We just received our copy in the mail yesterday and my littles (ages 3 and 5) have had a blast following along with the actions and pointing out all the taxa they know as we trace through the family tree. Highly recommend it!

This book is SO wonderful! My 28-month-old LOVES it. He's been requesting it over and over again since we received the book last week, and within two readings was doing all of the motions along with the story. He now can point out all of the grandmothers' images when asked, as well as almost all of the cousins shown on the story pages. He's too young to understand what it all means, but I am so happy that this gives him such a wonderful, accurate foundation for the understanding that will build as he gets older. It is definitely not too early to start introducing him to our kinship with all life! I got the book for him through the Kickstarter campaign, and have been kicking myself ever since for not ordering more copies at the time to give as gifts and to use with children in my work - I'm super excited that it's now available through Amazon! GET THIS BOOK, friends.

This book is absolutely amazing! We were one of the proud backers of the kick starter, and although it took a while for it to get completed, it was amazing watching them go from start to finish on a book that will make it so much easier for so many more children to understand the process of evolution. Not only does it approach the topic by providing information in a way that's easy for children understand, but it also provides good factual information for adults on how to present the information to children! My four and eight-year-old absolutely love reading it

Excellent book! Makes me especially glad that I have young grandchildren. I can’t wait to share the book with my daughter. Tweet explained that he wrote the book because he had not been able to find a good book on evolution to use with his own daughter. The illustrations are very well done, and the words are very well chosen. Thank you Jonathan Tweet on behalf of all children (and their parents and grandparents).

Our family backed this book's Kickstarter, and we couldn't be more delighted with the final product (including our kids' names on the endsheets with other backers!). As a book it's well made and beautifully illustrated. We've enjoyed reading it to our children, and them reading it to us. Besides the accessible text, friendly illustrations and fun "play along" aspect (as kids wiggle and hoot and whatnot like their Grandmothers back in evolutionary history did), the material at the end for adults with clarifications about the science of evolution is great for dealing with the kids' follow-up curiosity about what evolution means and how it works. I expect we will buy many more copies as gifts for our kids' friends, cousins and schools in the years to come!

I also backed the kickstarter and got our copy. It's a really lovely book with great illustrations. I just read it to our almost 3 year old & she really enjoyed it. She liked being able to do the actions each of the grandmothers could do. She caught on to the "long, long, long time ago" and enjoyed saying it with me. She enjoyed looking at the evolutionary tree and pointing out the lion. My 7 year old ( who has been watching Khan Academy Crash Course Biology) only rolled her eyes.

This is an absolute gem, I'm so glad I found it. First off, it just looks amazing. A fantastic glossy hardcover binding, and colorful illustrations which are a perfect complement to the story. The story itself is very clever, showing how later generations build on the previous ones. It is perhaps the most concise and easy-to-understand explanation of evolution I've ever seen, and well-suited for its audience. This book can grow with your kids too, as the back of the book includes additional information and ideas for further exploration and learning.

WE LOVE this book!!! It’s a great explanation of evolution for kids. The evolution tree in the back is so awesome. My 5 year old loves it, we highly recommend it.

This book has beautiful pictures and a text that is clear and lovely to read aloud. Extra information at the end of the book is useful for parents and teachers as well as older children. Highly recommend this book to anyone who want to expose children to the concepts of evolution.

For now at least, you can check out a free pdf copy of this book on the book's website. Just google "grandmother fish pdf". That'll give you a better sense of whether it's appropriate for your child than any review. Children are pretty variable in what stories they like, and despite the through-line of mimicking ones ancestors, your child may well lose interest in a book with no central character. Though given the subject matter, it'd have to be a very long-lived central character! The main narrative of the book illustrates evolution and descent from a common ancestor. It does not cover natural selection. An appendix contains notes about natural and artificial selection, and more detailed information about our various ancestors. The book also doesn't present evidence for evolution. However, its website lists various further resources one can explore when a child becomes inquisitive about how and why we know what we know. The above limitations would have been difficult to avoid, given the book's intended audience: very young children, perhaps too young to understand death. Therefore, I can't point to anything that would have made this book better. Once the book is reprinted, I'm looking forward to picking up a copy for my nephew.

This is such a great first book for teaching young children about the common origin of all life on our planet. The simplified approach makes it easy for children to understand and easy for parents to expand on the detail. When I read it to my children, not once did either of them look at me with mocking disbelief and say "But were you there?" That's because children are capable of understanding this incredibly fascinating story of our history.

Gorgeous artwork. My children love to play along as our ancestors crawl and grab and hoot. It is accessible at a level for kindergartners, but has some supplementary information as they age. There isn't another book like this! No one has made evolution as fun and accessible for such a young age. This is my four year olds favorite bedtime book now.

I backed this on kickstarter and we just bought another copy with our charter school funds (through the school) and it's a simple early introduction to evolution that kids can understand and build on. It has lovely art and prose. Worthwhile for any young kids library

This is a fantastic explanation of life on Earth for little kids. My daughter loved having it read to her at bedtime and when I was asked to read a book to her 5 year old class, I chose this. The class enjoyed it too, especially the questions like "She could hoot. Can you hoot?". At the end I handed around a mystery grab bag of little plastic animal figures so everyone could take home a descendant of Grandmother Fish.

This book is great fun to read out loud, with opportunity for a lot of audience participation. It also keeps an upbeat tone, without showing disrespect to any faith or story of origin. It just sticks to the basics of how evolution works in an easy to read & easy to understand format. I really appreciated the notes for adults or advanced readers, that give more detailed information that may fill in any gaps in ones own knowledge.

Tonight was probably at least the 30th time I read Grandmother Fish to my 3-year-old over the past 6 months, and it's a fantastic tool for helping him understand where animals come from. He recognizes the Cousin Apes when we go to the zoo, and he understands that our cat and dog are "grandchildren" of Cousin Carnivore. After we learned about the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, he began asking which of the cousins got "hit with the rock", and I was able to show him where that Great Extinction took place on the timeline in the back of the book. I highly recommend for anyone wanting to teach their children about life on Earth and where it comes from.

Actively gets them moving and making noises as they go through fish, reptiles, mammals, apes, and humans! Awesome and also clever! The grandmother aspect really caught my son's attention, and the "long, long, long..." time ago aspect helped him know which were older 'grandmothers'.

As an educator and evolutionary biologist, I am a huge fan of this book which introduces young kids to the concept of evolution through the apt metaphor of a family tree. The book excels at accessibly introducing kids to the traits we share with ancestors as close as apes and as distant as fish. I got to see this book's early development and successful Kickstarter, yet when I got the physical book in my hands last week, I was still blown away by how gorgeous and friendly Karen's illustrations are. I especially appreciate the evolutionary tree in the back of the book, which ties all the grandmother ancestors together. Bravo!

Delightful book for readers of all ages. Lots of interactive text for really young children and additional in-depth information for adults and young readers. The illustrations help to tell the story in a very charming and beautiful way. But then, I am the proud mother of the artist! Great way to discover the topic of evolution.

Excellent. I had an early e-book version of this and cannot wait until I get my hard copy version. I think for little ones it could be written more simply. But this is as good as it can get. My three year old loved looking at the pictures and hearing the story of how we came to be. If you are religious or not, this book is about science and spells out the facts of grandmother fish! A must for any family who lives in the real world.

In agreement with all the other five star reviews on this page. Can't wait for the opportunity to read this at our church's Children's Moment. Also a nice question and answer section in the back. Wonderful illustrations and a book that will be treasured for a long time.

My just-turned-two year old absolutely loves this book. She asks for it all the time, acts out the abilities of each of the animals, and enjoys finding each of the "grandmothers" on the charts at the end of the book. It is a wonderful book for little ones.

My wife bought this for our three year old. She loves to read it. It is very well written and has a great section for dealing with the misconceptions of evolution. Would highly recommend this book.

I am proud to have been a part of this book's Kickstarter; Grandmother Fish is well written, beautifully illustrated, engaging, and easy to understand. I have no doubt that the children who have it read to them (or who read it themselves) are going to love it! Well done! =D

I love this book and so do my children! My 2 and 4 year old love to mimic the actions of the animals. I love the flow of the story and the lovely artwork. I like that there is a section in the back of the book to explain and expand on the knowledge in the book.

This is one of the most exciting books on the children's market today. I have purchased copies for all my grandchildren and am recommending it to friends. It is science-based with inviting, colorful illustrations -- and gives children an easily understandable way to see themselves as part of the family of life on Earth. I am so proud to have been a supporter from its inception -- and to have my name included inside the back cover. I love this book!

We bought a copy of this for our 3-year old. He loves it, and so does my wife. She's a bio professor, and appreciates the accuracy. My son likes the story and is learning science, so it's a win-win!

The book manages, surprisingly, to be both good science and engaging for small children. This engagement is due to, in part, the wonderful device of tracing the maternal line of the child. Even young children can understand that their grandmothers had mothers and grandmothers and that their long, long, long time ago (millions of greats) grandmother was a specific fish. And we can see parts of each of those many generations of grandmothers in ourselves. To me, that is a powerful perspective that gets too easily lost.

I got this book from the kickstarter campaign, and it completely met my high expectations. The text is cleaver and entertaining to read to young children while being scientifically accurate and cogent and the illustrations are lively and beautifully rendered. Truly a labor of love, I sincerely hope this book becomes popular for both the sake of its authors and readers.

We received this book as a birthday gift for my daughter. It is so wonderful. The illustrations are gorgeous and the text is wonderful. I especially love the page "common mistakes/misconceptions" at the end.

My 4 year old son loves this book!!! He loves acting out the actions to show what his "grandmothers" passed down to him. He also loves the evolution line in the back and we talk about all the different branches and the line that leads to humans. Fantastic learning tool!