My First Book of Evolution
Sheddad Kaid-Salah Ferrón and Eduard Altarriba
Button Books

The stellar pair, author Sheddad Kaid-Salah Ferrón and illustrator Eduard Altarriba present another important STEM topic – how all life came to exist.

Starting close to home, there are pages that look at both the family tree and the tree of life, the latter being defined as ‘the family tree of all living things that have ever lived on Earth.’ Then comes a spread on species comprising a definition and examples, mentioning that the definition doesn’t actually apply to everything in the natural world, including many bacteria.

Evolution itself is presented next

followed by the process of natural selection wherein it’s explained its connection with evolution using giraffes as examples. Charles Darwin is mentioned here and the voyage of the Beagle, Dawin’s observations and his ‘The Origin of Species’ are the subjects of two double spreads.

Heredity, Gregor Mendel and genetics including mutations are also explored; there’s a look at LUCA (the ancestral organism all living things are descended from) and the book ends on future possibilities.

Exciting and accessible, this is a great starter book for budding scientists at home or school, as well as adults who may not have learned about the topic previously.