When the Whales Walked: And Other Incredible Evolutionary Journeys (1)

I bought this for my niece, but have also thoroughly enjoyed it myself. It has a different animal group on each two page spread and lots of facts about the connections and ancient life forms. The illustrations are plentiful and very clear. A great concept.

Bought for my nine years old son who loves learning about evolution. He adores this book and is always telling me new things he's learnt from it. It's got lovely illustrations and is very informative, full of fun and interesting facts.

Fabulous book, brought for my grandson whom loves it

Grandson loved this

Bright and a good starter for children young and old to understand that our world and all its animals are not static but dynamic and always changing and have done so for millions and millions of years.

Great book, love it

Evolution is a complex topic for children to understand, with millions of years of 'change over time' to cover and multiple stages to grasp. This breaks the overall concept down into constituent parts, most with a slightly eyebrow-raising title: when whales walked on land? when snakes had legs? They do make you want to read the relevant pages to know just what could have happened. Starting with a brief page on evolution using an example of shrimp-eating birds on a volcanic island, and gives the terms adaptation and mutation. After this we see a timeline of Earth's life and diagrams of how the continents have also changed (I always found this fascinating), then some more detail on the Tree of Life. This isn't simplified particularly for young children, the scientific terms are used and there is no Horrible HIstories-style comic strip or joke in sight. It's science for children, explained clearly and illustrated with colour and lifelike drawings. Next are thirteen case studies following various groups of animals. From hard shells, to lungs, to fins and later to dinosaurs, there are example of creatures with their key statistics given, and the detail isn't overwhelming. Just a few sentences to describe each major evolutionary leap so you can see the general movement. We eventually reach the stages where you can see the precursors to humanity (who only feature on a short double page) in their various forms, and then a reminder that evolution hasn't and won't stop. It is thorough and gives the key detail without becoming too dry or complicated for a KS2 or KS3 reader. Children of this age will be able to manage the vocabulary, concepts and format of the book. There are lots of fascinating facts here, diagrams showing tusks evolving, strange and new names as well as some key points that readers will be familiar with already. One for school libraries and classes as well as for homes with scientifically minded youngesters, aged 8-13. With thanks to Quarto for providing a sample reading copy.

Beautiful and educational.

I really enjoyed the approach of explaining evolution by means of separate "stories" / case studies of how this and this animal changed specifically. How snakes used to have legs, for example. Much more effective (and easy for kids to absorb) than the usual overall approach to explaining evolution by telling ONE big story, how there were fish, then there we reptiles etc. Amazing book. Six stars, if I could.

One of the coolest books I’ve bought in a long time! So informative and my 5yo really enjoys learning about evaluation. Definitely recommend!

When Whales Walked is an impressive introduction to a more detailed understanding of evolution for young people. This highly engaging non-fiction title beautifully details the evolutionary process of several different animals, including whales. The illustrations are engaging, accurate, and wonderful for sparking conversation and further research. I feel that this book will be most enjoyed by children aged 7 and up, or a younger child with a keen interest in science. If your child is new to learning about the process of evolution, I highly recommend reading Grandmother Fish before diving into When Whales Walked.

日本語版の出版が待ちきれず、原書を購入しました。子ども向けの科学絵本ということで、平易な英語で書かれているので、ある程度の英語力があれば理解できます。この手の絵本や児童書は内容が凝りすぎてわかりにくいものが多いのですが、こちらはイラストや構成がわかりやすいのでおすすめです。

My 4, and 5 year old got this for their birthday. They love it! Great illustrations and large and small blurbs to read to either skim ideas or get into nitty gritty. Very fun book and we enjoyed the way the content is presented. We also got this right after sea world so their intrist was very high.