Children’s Book Review: ‘Anna & Evan Meet Charles Darwin’, by Tanya Hutter & Lina Daniel, illustrated by Karin Eklund

Blurb

Join Anna and Evan on a magical adventure to the Galapagos Islands where they meet Charles Darwin, discover unusual animals and learn some interesting scientific facts.

This engaging and educational book is ideal for young children to encourage curiosity and interest in the natural world and science.

The project was supported by L’Oréal UK and Ireland For Women In Science Fellowship.

The Department of Chemistry at Cambridge tweeted: https://twitter.com/ChemCambridge/status/1095236077911187456

My Review

Anna and Evan go to the zoo. Fascinated by the different bears, they go on an adventure, back in time, and meet Charles Darwin in the Galapagos Islands, where they learn about adaptation by natural selection.

I loved the story, it was simple but introduces important ideas. The illustrations were fantastic, some of the best I’ve seen in the few picture books I’ve reviewed, and i liked the texture of the book.

I think this book is a great way to introduce children to evolution and the history of scientific ideas. The addition of a biography of Charles Darwin and a short glossary is also useful to parents to explain ideas that might be confusing.

I’d say this book is for 4 – 6 year olds, either to read alone or to have read to them.

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Bio of the authors Tanya Hutter and Lina Daniel

As a young girl, Dr. Tanya Hutter couldn’t imagine that she would end up being a leading scientist in nanotechnology and chemical sensing, and a Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Currently, she lives in Cambridge with her husband and their two curious children that inspired the book.

Lina Daniel has been always interested in science and medicine, eventually becoming a chemist and a pharmacist, and currently working in the pharmaceutical industry. With her husband, she is raising three enthusiastic boys. They all share a passion for scientific experiences, engineering novelties, fun historical facts, travels and adventures.

Tanya and Lina have been close friends for over two decades. The fact that they are both raising young children enhanced their desire to encourage kids to learn about science, and finally, drew them to write their first illustration book for small children. Hopefully, this will be the first one in a series of books about notable scientists and engineers.  

Website: https://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/outreach/anna-evan-meet-charles-darwin

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HutterTanya

Twitter for L’Oréal UK: http://twitter.com/LOreal_UKI