How Whales Walked Into the Sea

by Faith McNulty

Book Overview

Explains how the earth's biggest mammal evolved from a land animal into a sea animal. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0590898310
• ISBN13: 9780590898317
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Scholastic
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Whale Might Walk, But You Should Run to Buy This Book

I have never seen a better book for explaining evolution basics to children. And this is the kind of thing we need to do a lot more of- getting the younger generations into this fascinating science as early as possible, that they might own the wonder and beauty of evolution. The book is a bit dated, being eight years old now, as we have discovered numerous fossils since the publishing, where in the book it refers to long segments we still don't know. The Mesonychids are portrayed as pawed rather than hoofed in the illustrations. But it doesn't matter- this type of book is so rare, so needed, that even dating doesn't detract from it's groundbreaking presence. And though it comes across as a bit of a "Just So Story", it is an entirely age-appropriate approach. The adult reading this book should simply explain to their children the extra bits that we have learned since it's publication. The drawings are beautiful enough to entice the pre-reader into wanting to learn more, and hear more. They will be able to see step by step how whales changed. A fourth-grade reader should be able to get through most of this book, and may want to ask their parents for a few of the words they don't understand. But this is also good, for it encourages them to ask more questions about evolution and pursue understanding. McNulty picked a wonderful example for her book. For a long time, ever since Darwin, evolutionists were made fun of by the Literal Creationists for proposing that whales came from land animals. It seemed like the right idea, but truthfully the evidence was sparse. Yet biologists remained committed to the method, and to expecting the parallels from other organisms to bear out in future fossils. And has happened time after time, when evolution makes predictions, the fossils appear. And today, the Cetacean fossil line is one of the most articulated and defined fossil lines we know of. Your child will not only learn about evolution, and learn to love it, but he or she will be prepared to know the basics in defending it, considering evolution as simply a second skin, to be cherished as part of themselves.

Wow! A picture book on evolution!

An earlier reviewer was right on target when s/he said "I wish there was a whole series like this one!" This is an extremely difficult subject to find in a format that is accessible to young children. Though we read it to our son when he was 4, some of the text was difficult but at least it was an introduction to a very difficult topic that is so abstract that it's not easily accessible to young children. It continues to be great as a picture book on the topic as children enter early elementary. Most topics can be introduced to even young children, who are naturally fascinated by their world, as long as it is done in a pleasing picture format. But note, the language can still be complex; you may have to edit depending on the child's age and attention span and vocabulary level but it gives you pictures that you can use as a springboard to discuss the fascinating topic of evolution. So there should really be more of these books covering various science topics. As an adult, even I was interested in the ancestors to modern whales. (As an adjunct to the book, there is a computer graphics mini-video at the Smithsonian in Washington DC that animates the evolution of whales from land animals to sea mammals. Seeing the movie first and having this book afterwards was an amazing learning experience.)

I wish there was a whole series like this one

This is a simple book which feels more like a storybook than a science book. This suits it very well to the age group it is aiming at. It is a gentle look at evolution, but because it is focused on only one animal, it can give more detail than a general book on evolution of this size. I really wish they had a series of these, each focusing on a different animal. I also liked the artwork and felt it fit well with the tone of the writing. Overall this was a hit in our family, and I often recommend it to others who are looking for evolution books for the preschool set. There are so few books for youngsters about evolution; it is a real shame. Most of us who want to expose our children to this from early on are pretty much stuck using everything that is available, whether it is particularly well done or not. This is a book I would use even if there were an abundance of books to choose from.