Starred review from October 1, 2020
Gr 3-8-Are you prepared for 4.6 billion years of history in one comic book? In this Belgian import, a brown-skinned female paleontologist, a white male storyteller, and two inquisitive kids (a brown-skinned boy and a white girl) invite readers to join them on an exciting narrative journey through the life and times of our blue planet, from its birth to its imagined future and everything in between. The focus is mainly on life forms and their evolution, connecting changes in climate and habitat to natural selection and evolution. Each page is helpfully labeled at the top, with a title declaring a unified theme and a time period. The color of the bar changes to indicate a shift in time or subject, advancing in a relatively chronological fashion. Most featured creatures are labeled with their names; information such as their height or length (in feet and meters) or how long ago they lived is provided. Supporting back matter includes a geologic time scale, a glossary, and a thorough index. This is a satisfyingly detailed romp, with plenty of minutiae for those who demand it, but broad enough for pleasure reading. The density of the material is tempered by Barman's detailed but peppy color-saturated cartoons. While the illustrations are enlightening, the mood is kept lively by the narrators' face-clutching, arm-waving enthusiasm for their subject and the ancient creatures' irreverently goofy expressions. The narrators and early humans are depicted in a variety of skin tones. This title lends itself particularly to subject requests for evolution, dinosaurs, early mammals, and early humans and offers fascinating perspectives on climate change. VERDICT Young naturalists seeking a deep dive similar to Joanna Cole's "Magic School Bus" series will be delighted by this treasure trove of content.-Darla Salva Cruz, Suffolk Cooperative Lib. Syst., Bellport, NY
Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 1, 2020
A visual history of our planet's long career as a nursery for living things. A brown-skinned paleontologist in a lab coat patiently guides three chattering listeners through the ages from Earth's fiery formation through climate and other geophysical changes to the present day's "sixth period of mass extinction." As she goes, she rolls out polysyllabic terms and nomenclature at a rate that may leave casual readers struggling to keep up but will undoubtedly elevate the pulses of devoted young STEM-winders. Side comments from her audience add common-language context ("The Carboniferous is the age of coal..." one says, while the other concludes, "...and also the age of roaches!"). Though blocks of narrative crowd Barman's panels, her cartoon portraits of alien-looking sea life evolving first into extinct, pop-eyed plant eaters and toothy, slavering predators, then finally familiar creatures such as us, flesh out the fossil story in lighthearted but reasonably accurate detail. ("Lighthearted" except for one scene of a poached rhino with its horn bloodily removed, that is.) Animals hog the spotlight, and a specious claim that all stars have planets mars the closing vision of new kinds of life arising both on our own world and elsewhere. Still, this French import offers an overview as coherent as it is chronologically broad...particularly for readers not intimidated by encounters with plesiadapiforms, perissodactyls, Gomphoteria, and like sesquipedalia. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.5-by-15.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 77% of actual size.) Readers with a less-than-burning interest may struggle...or find that interest kindled by the end. (partial glossary, index) (Informational picture book. 10-12)
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July 1, 2020
From the Big Bang through the "Time of the Humans," this breakneck ride through Earth's history is divided into six major epochs (e.g., "The Paleozoic," "The Cenozoic"). Each double-page spread focuses generally on one or two geological or evolutionary developments, with a chatty paleontologist, "a storyteller," and two kids providing information and banter. The comic-panel illustrations are relatively uncluttered and easy to follow. Because humans are such a recent presence (evolutionarily speaking), most of the book's discussion focuses on events from 4.6 billion to twelve thousand years ago -- giving readers a good sense of the scale of time (a "geologic time scale" is helpful). A glossary and index are appended.
(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)