Life Story

I read this book almost 20 years ago in the first grade and was immediately hooked on natural history, dinosaurs, life sciences, and the like, not to mention storytelling itself. The illustrations are entrancing and the format--the history of life as a play in several acts on a world stage--is enthralling. It's highly informative, too, for a young reader (or even an old one), and it was one of the most memorable and entertaining "educational" books I read as a child. Now out of college, I have recently repurchased it for nostalgia and read it again. It remains a wonderful work. Being from 1961, it is slightly dated in spots. For example, it says that there is no record of life 2 billion years ago, whereas today we have found lifeforms dating back twice that far. Also, the dinosaurs' extinction is attributed to a cooling climate, because at the time the meteor theory was not widely accepted. But this of course is nitpicking. The ultimate point of the book is that it's an introduction to the history of our planet and everything on it, including us. The central message--that our own life stories fit into the grand tapestry of life's history--remains. This is a remarkable book, and paticularly if you have a young child, I highly recommend picking up a copy.

As a child this was my favorite book as well. I had it checked out of the school library so often I may as well have owned it. I was thrilled to recently find it still in print, and I ordered a copy for my kids -- and one for myself! The artwork is incredible. There's something about the style of it that almost... psychedelic. There's a swirling flow to it, with orderly ribbons of plants and animals winding into the distance. Yet while highly stylized, the artwork at the same time offers a wonderful sense of realism. The swamps of the Carboniferous seem so dark and mysterious; the verdant forests at the opening of the Cenezoic Era are infused with the essence of life born anew. And the intricate borders around the "program" at the beginning remind one of the lovingly detailed borders one might find along the high ceiling of some Victorian-era museum. Even after 40 years, the science behind the book holds up amazingly well. If you want to inspire a love of natural history in your children, get them this book!

Why don't the bookstores carry this one? In the tradition of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, and Katy and the Big Snow, Life Story presents its main tale in VLB's characteristic artwork wrapped with interesting mini drawings. My children and I enjoyed this title, and I am considering buying several more copies to keep on hand as gifts. (This review was titled and written with the assistance of Sal, age 8.)

My first-grade daughter has been fascinated by this book since she found the dog-eared 1962 copy in her school library last year. She's checked it out so many times that we're buying her a copy for her birthday. It's not often you find a science book for kids that doesn't talk down to them, or leave out a lot of facts to make the book shorter or less wordy. This book has a lot of words, some of them big scientific words, but it is so elegantly written that my daughter has never lost interest. It begins with descriptions of the creation of the planet and solar system and follows the story of life on our planet through prehistoric times, to present day life on the author's farm. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful, very folk-art like, and very detailed. If your child is interested in dinosaurs, like my daughter is, this is a great book and will broaden their interest into other eras of prehistoric creatures.

This book is absolutely fabulous! It reads extremely well to preschoolers and possibly younger children as well. Even though earth science has progressed since this book's first printing, it's still a great introduction some of the basic, foundational concepts in the study of: Space/Time; Earth and the Universe; Geology and Prehistoric Life Science. Also, the illustration's are beautiful! My 3yr. old is as fascinated by the pictures as he is by the story! I read this book and "The Little House" by Burton when I was a child and it has been a wonderful experience to share these books with my son!