Author(s): Nick Lund; Jason Ford (Illustrator)

Junior Nonfiction

Here it is: the celebrity biography we didn't know we wanted, and now can't get enough of--the story of Earth, our fascinating little home in the solar system with all its crazy life forms and dramatic geological ages. Written for kids ages 10 and up who are history buffs, science buffs, or just plain curious to know more about the world around them, The Ultimate Biography of Earth is the riveting story of the planet we call home, told in biography form.
            It all begins with the Big Bang and continues up to the (relatively) present day, the age of humans. The Earth is a character itself in the book, participating in interviews and chiming in with facts and personal "memories": [The Cretaceous] was a fun period. Nice weather . . . lots of continents moving around . . . big, cool animals. Ended badly, that's for sure. But it was fun while it lasted. The voice is friendly, irreverent, and funny, delivering impeccable science in the most fascinating way.
            Readers will travel back 4.6 billion years, when the Earth formed out of parts left from the huge explosion that created the sun. Learn about the first life on Earth--tiny, single-celled organisms called prokaryotes. Meet bizarre creatures like the crazy walking spiky worm Hallucigenia, so named because the scientists who first discovered the fossils thought they were hallucinating (we're still not sure which end is which). And get an eyewitness's view of the asteroid that ended the Cretaceous Era and eliminated 75% of species on Earth, making way for the Cenozoic Era--the one we live in now. All of which reinforces how the planet has changed over time while putting how it's changing now into context--and driving home the importance of caring for Earth into the future.