What Mr Darwin Saw

by Mick Manning (Illustrator), Brita Granstrom (Illustrator)

Overview

In 1831, at only 22 years old, Darwin was offered the position of Naturalist on HMS Beagle's world voyage. He was set to become a clergyman but returns after five years at sea an inspired genius. This book follows the journey of HMS Beagle, showing life on-board the ship for Darwin, the captain, crew and the expedition's artist. The reader sees Darwin discovering and observing insect life in Brazil, fossils in Argentina , earthquakes in Chile and turtles in the Galapagos Islands. The reader is therefore able to follow the steps which led to Darwin's inspired theory of evolution, while also showing the adventures and escapades he had during the voyage. A fascinating and colourful story of Darwin's life, this book also introduces young readers to one of the world's most important scientists and his discoveries. It concludes with a simple explanation of the theory of evolution. Written by an outstanding team in the field of children's non-fiction, this is a book to enlighten and inspire young readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847801074
Publisher:	Frances Lincoln Children's Books
Publication date:	03/18/2014
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	10.70(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

MICK MANNING and BRITA GRANSTRÖM have developed a unique approach to picture information books over the last 21 years. Sharing the illustration between them and mixing words and pictures in inventive ways, they have won many awards, including the Smarties Silver Award, and are five-times winners of the English Association Award. Mick fell in love with wildlife on primary school nature walks many years ago, and has an MA in Natural History Illustration from the Royal College of Art. Brita grew up on a farm, and has an MFA from Konstfack in Stockholm. They spend a lot of their time having both Swedish and British Wild Adventures with their four children. Their other books for Frances Lincoln include: The Beatles, Charles Dickens, Scenes from an Extraordinary Life, What Mr Darwin Saw, Tail-End Charlie, Taff in the WAAF; The Secrets of Stonehenge, Woolly Mammoth;and the Fly on the Wall series: Roman Fort, Viking Longship, Pharoah's Egypt, Greek Hero.

MICK MANNING and BRITA GRANSTRÖM have developed a unique approach to picture information books over the last 21 years. Sharing the illustration between them and mixing words and pictures in inventive ways, they have won many awards, including the Smarties Silver Award, and are five-times winners of the English Association Award. Mick fell in love with wildlife on primary school nature walks many years ago, and has an MA in Natural History Illustration from the Royal College of Art. Brita grew up on a farm, and has an MFA from Konstfack in Stockholm. They spend a lot of their time having both Swedish and British Wild Adventures with their four children. Their other books for Frances Lincoln include: The Beatles; Charles Dickens, Scenes from an Extraordinary Life; What Mr Darwin Saw; Tail-End Charlie; Taff in the WAAF; The Secrets of Stonehenge; Woolly Mammoth; and the Fly on the Wall series: Roman Fort, Viking Longship; Pharoah's Egypt; Greek Hero.

Editorial Reviews

The inviting illustrations and manageable blocks of text will attract a wide range of readers.

From the Publisher

Gr 3-6

A somewhat bug-eyed Darwin tells the story of his journey on the Beagle and the development of his theory of evolution. Journal entries make good use of quotations from his own writing, while captioned insets add information on the people, animals, places, and ideas he encountered on the historic trip. The authors make it clear that Darwin was aware of the controversial nature of his theory, quoting, "Publishing my theory felt like confessing a murder." Cartoon illustrations in pencil and watercolor aim for the gross and startling aspects of the adventure: blood spewing from a screaming man having his leg amputated without anesthetic, a seasick Darwin vomiting over the side of the Beagle , or spitting a beetle out of his mouth. In a crowded field of picture-book biographies, this title is not as strong as Kathryn Lasky's One Beetle Too Many (Candlewick), Rosalyn Schanzer's What Darwin Saw (National Geographic), or Alice B. McGinty's Darwin (Houghton, all 2009).-Ellen Heath, Easton Area Public Library, Easton, PA

School Library Journal

Joining the spate of biographies issued to mark the bicentenary of Darwin's birth, this covers the great scientist's career in snapshots. It opens with scenes of him gunning down birds and catching rats as a feckless youth and closes with a view of the white-bearded sage delivering a simple explanation of natural selection on a chalkboard-style spread. In between, readers follow him from the famous incident with the three new kinds of beetles (one in each hand, the third-briefly-in his mouth) to stops and discoveries during his long voyage aboard the Beagle and the furor following the publication of his magnum opus. They will get some sense of both Darwin's character and the significant observations of nature in action that he recorded. The authors convey all of this in a mix of first- and third-person captions matched to watercolors that are freely drawn but detailed enough to show, for instance, telling differences in the beaks of Galapagos finches. At the opposite end of the accessibility scale from Peter S's's hyper-ornate Tree of Life (2003), this will provide younger readers with an accurate, if sketchy, introduction to Darwin's big ideas. (Picture book/biography. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews