My First Book of Evolution

All life adapts to its surroundings. Fish use their gills to breathe underwater, and are the ideal shape for moving through it. The desert cactus can store large amounts of water to withstand long periods of drought. Evolution means that something changes and transforms over time to suit its environment and be able to thrive within it.

Featuring chapters on natural selection, Charles Darwin, heredity, genetic variability and speciation, this is quite a deep dive on the subject of evolution. Eduard Altarriba’s illustrations are gorgeous and their vibrant graphic style, plenty of diagrams, and helpful layouts help to make the material more digestible.

Sheddad Kaid-Salah Ferron and Altarriba take the reader through Darwin’s original theory and then look at how evolution has been influenced by human intervention in artificial selection, using the example of animal breeding. They also look ahead to the future of humanity and what influence technology might have on our bodies, minds and lives over the next thousands of years.

As with the other books in this series, there is some rather advanced information contained in My First Book of Evolution, despite the fact that it’s a picture book - meaning that it is best suited to older primary aged children.