The First People

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-- With some overlap, each book in this series introduces a specific area of prehistoric life. The First People defines the characteristics that distinguish human beings from their prehistoric ancestors. Beginning with the earliest primates, Matthews traces human evolution as evidenced by the fossil record and current anthropological theory. Theory and opinion are identified as such and Matthews acknowledges the confusion scientists face. The First Settlements surveys the changes in culture, migration, and settlement that resulted when early humans shifted from hunting and gathering to farming. Each book offers two pages per topic and contains at least one full-color illustration. Most of them have the look of a natural-history museum display backdrop, with photographs and maps occasionally included. Words appearing in bold print in the text are defined in the glossary, but without pronunciation. A short bibliography is limited to titles published by Watts. That these books seem geared specifically for report writing results in some confusion when complex theories are presented in the series' restricted format. A better choice is Hominids: A Look Back at Our Ancestors (Lothrop, 1988) by Helen Roney Sattler. --Jeanette Larson, Mesquite Public Library, TX