Awards

• Minnesota Book Award, Nonfiction Picture Book

• Riverbank Review Top Ten Books of Distinction

• Pen Literary Award Finalist

Reviews

 "...This beautifully illustrated, beautifully written book by Peters helps break down the concepts of evolution – not easy concepts in the slightest – and renders them in terms that small children can pick up and understand. According to the American Library Association, this book has been challenged in schools and libraries across the country – most likely because it succeeds in explaining those concepts, and there are a still a lot of people in this country who don’t want those concepts taught to children.”
- Forbes Magazine "Five Banned Books That You Should Read That You Probably Haven't"

“…Stringer’s warm, inviting acrylics alternate full-bleed vistas with close-ups of each stop on the journey, effectively mirroring the text's outside/inside approach. An arresting image of a fish, for instance, in shades of cobalt and sea green, is flip-flopped on the opposite page as a tawny fossil. An illustrated timeline helps readers place the information in context."
-Publisher's Weekly

"...Stringer’s artwork perfectly complements Peters’ tone, mixing accepted science with images that carry their own poetry… this offering is also a wonderful example of the evolution of children’s literature itself: it epitomizes the emergence of a branch of scrupulously researched and beautifully illustrated nonfiction picture books." 
-Ruminator Review

"… Through a simple progression amply bolstered by Stringer's striking, large acrylics, Peters traces "our" family tree from unicellular organisms through amphibians, therapsids, and early mammals to early primates, hominids, and our distinct "humanness" today."
-School Library Journal

"Evolution is what has created the living world and what keeps it going. If we do not understand evolution, we will never understand our world. How lucky our children are to have this beautiful and moving guide from which to learn!"
-Dr. Ernst Mayr, Professor of Zoology, Emeritus, Harvard University