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Overview
Some giant tortoises have lived for more than 150 years! Some of the giant sequoia trees that grow in California would be more than 3,000 years old. This book compares the age of some things on Earth.
Synopsis
Some giant tortoises have lived for more than 150 years! Some of the giant sequoia trees that grow in California would be more than 3,000 years old. This book compares the age of some things on Earth.
Deborah Zink - Children's Literature
Created by an author who is also a scientist and an artist, this book takes a lengthy and ambitious trek backwards in time to discuss the relative ages of tortoises, trees, mountains, dinosaurs and even the planet. While the pages are packed with appealing artwork drawn in pen and colored with vivid acrylics, the high level concepts offered in the text may be difficult for the children who would most appreciate the whimsical quality of the pictures. Youngsters who tend to be fascinated by the concept of radiometric dating would probably not choose a picture book. Still, the author manages to link the story together by taking a giant Galapagos tortoise on a magic carpet ride with an enterprising iguana as they journey to push the definition of "old" as far back as possible, mixing the extinct with the still living. Vocabulary is necessarily challenging, with terms such as paleontologist, predator, landmasses, and reconstruction. The book would have benefited from maps to pinpoint the location of the tortoises, the meteors and the mammoths. 2004, Albert Whitman & Company, Ages 4 to 8.
Editorials
Children's Literature
Created by an author who is also a scientist and an artist, this book takes a lengthy and ambitious trek backwards in time to discuss the relative ages of tortoises, trees, mountains, dinosaurs and even the planet. While the pages are packed with appealing artwork drawn in pen and colored with vivid acrylics, the high level concepts offered in the text may be difficult for the children who would most appreciate the whimsical quality of the pictures. Youngsters who tend to be fascinated by the concept of radiometric dating would probably not choose a picture book. Still, the author manages to link the story together by taking a giant Galapagos tortoise on a magic carpet ride with an enterprising iguana as they journey to push the definition of "old" as far back as possible, mixing the extinct with the still living. Vocabulary is necessarily challenging, with terms such as paleontologist, predator, landmasses, and reconstruction. The book would have benefited from maps to pinpoint the location of the tortoises, the meteors and the mammoths. 2004, Albert Whitman & Company, Ages 4 to 8.—Deborah Zink