Inside the Beagle with Charles Darwin

Combining exploration, sea faring adventure, and natural history, this splendidly illustrated book tells Darwin's exciting story.

Combining exploration, sea faring adventure, and natural history, this splendidly illustrated book tells Darwin's exciting story.

Elisabeth Greenberg - Children's Literature

This is an excellent resource for students, with detailed illustrations of the Beagle voyage and ship that complement the informative text. Darwin's contributions to modern sciences, such as genetics and microbiology, are recognized. The book shows how Darwin first gathered detailed information, then tried to make sense of it, mapping out the modern theories of natural selection and evolution. Word choice is sometimes rather strong, for example, using "violence" instead of "physical punishment" when speaking of the control of the crew. Also some copy-editing errors—e.g., Fiztroy instead of Fitzroy and misquotation by replacing "his" with "this"—distract the reader. School librarians should compare this book with other material on the market to make the best selection for the age group they serve. 2005, Enchanted Lion Books, Ages 9 to 14.

Fiona Macdonald studied history at Cambridge University and at the University of East Anglia. She has taught at schools and universities and is the author of numerous books for children on historical topics. Mark Bergin has illustrated numerous children's books. He lives in Bexhill-on-Sea with his wife and three children.