Who Was Charles Darwin?

by Deborah Hopkinson, Who HQ, Nancy Harrison (Illustrator)

Overview

As a young boy, Charles Darwin hated school and was often scolded forconducting “useless” experiments. Yet his passion for the natural world was so strong that he suffered through terrible seasickness during his five-year voyage aboard The Beagle. Darwin collected new creatures from the coasts of Africa, South America, and the Galapagos Islands, and expanded his groundbreaking ideas that would change people's understanding of the natural world. About 100 illustrations and a clear, exciting text will make Darwin and his theory of evolution an exciting discovery for every young reader.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780448437644
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	05/19/2005
Series:	Who Was? Series
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 7.63(h) x 0.27(d)
Lexile:	760L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Deborah Hopkinson's most recent book is the ALA Award-Winning Apples to Oregon. Her other titles include Under the Quilt of NIght (Also illustrated by James E. Ransome) and Fannie in the Kitchen. She lives in Oregon.

Read an Excerpt

Who Was

Charles Darwin?

Who Was

Charles Darwin?

For my wonderful and curious son, Dimitri, who loves to ask questions—just like Charles Darwin—D.H.

To my sisters, for their unwavering belief that anything is possible and always cheering me on—N.H.

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to Delbert Hutchison, Assistant Professor of Biology, Whitman College, for sharing his enthusiasm about Charles Darwin and making helpful suggestions on the manuscript. Any errors are my own.

Who Was Charles Darwin?

Charles Darwin took a five-year trip around the world on a ship called the Beagle, but he liked staying home best of all. He lived in a small English village where he raised pigeons, played with his children, and puttered in his garden.

Although he lived a quiet life, Charles Darwin started a revolution—a revolution of thought.

People have always wondered how life on Earth began. When Charles Darwin lived, most people in Europe and America believed God created the entire world in six days, just as it says in the Bible. But Charles Darwin was not most people. The Beagle voyage taught him to be a true scientist—to look closely at nature, question everything, and think in a new way about how life on Earth started. He showed how living things could naturally change, or evolve, over a long period of time.

Editorial Reviews

On February 12, 1809, two epoch-making men were born: Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. Mention of Darwin the person become tangled so frequently in discussions of his evolutionary theory that many young people never receive a proper introduction to this fascinating man. Deborah Hopkinson's Who Was Charles Darwin? shows that even great thinkers were once little boys who enjoyed hunting bugs more than schoolwork. This "kiddie" biography can even teach adults new things about the great biologist.