The Story of Life

At first, nothing lived on Earth. It was a noisy, hot, scary place. Choking gas exploded from volcanoes and oceans of lava bubbled around the globe...

Then in the deep, dark ocean, something amazing happened.

This is an exciting and dramatic story about how life began and developed on Planet Earth, written especially for younger children.

The authors explain how the first living cell was created, and how the cells multiply and create jellyfish and worms, and then fish with bendy necks, which drag themselves out of the water into swampy forests. They tell the story of the biggest creatures that have ever walked on land - the dinosaurs. Long after that, hairy creatures who have babies, not eggs, take over, stand on two legs and spread around the world, some of them living through cataclysmic events such as ice ages and volcanic eruptions. Everyone living today is related to these survivors.
With delightful illustrations including lots of detail and humour, all carefully researched and checked, this book shows the development of life on Earth in a truly accessible and simple way.

“Selected as a March highlight 'An exciting and dramatic introduction to evolution for young children, written in consultation with the Natural History Museum.'”

Best Books For Children This Easter

"If your child prefers fact to fiction...The Story of Life (Frances Lincoln, £12.99) by Catherine Barr, Steve Williams and Amy Husband is a simple, well-illustrated account of evolution."

"The book touches on very complex subjects, like the development of life from the first cells and man's evolution, but does so in a way that makes it understandable for those coming to these concepts for the first time."

"The book touches on very complex subjects, like the development of life from the first cells and man's evolution, but does so in a way that makes it understandable for those coming to these concepts for the first time."

Selected as a March highlight

'An exciting and dramatic introduction to evolution for young children, written in consultation with the Natural History Museum.'

Best Books For Children This Easter

"If your child prefers fact to fiction...The Story of Life  (Frances Lincoln, £ 12.99) by Catherine Barr, Steve Williams and Amy Husband is a simple, well-illustrated account of evolution."

Selected as a March highlight
‘ An exciting and dramatic introduction to evolution for young children, written in consultation with the Natural History Museum.'
Selected as a March highlight
‘An exciting and dramatic introduction to evolution for young children, written in consultation with the Natural History Museum.' The Bookseller
'This book is a fantastic non fiction text to share with any curious children. It offers solutions to many early questions children may have regarding how the world started or even when dinosaurs died.' Reading Zone

CATHERINE BARR studied Ecology at Leeds University and trained as a journalist. She worked at Greenpeace International for seven years as a wildlife and forestry campaigner and has a long-running interest in environmental issues. While working as an editor at the Natural History Museum, she researched and wrote two major summer exhibitions: Dinosaurs of the Gobi Desert and Myths and Monsters.
STEVE WILLIAMS is a biologist with a degree in Marine Biology and Applied Zoology from the University of Wales. His lifelong love of wildlife was further inspired by eight years at sea, after which he trained as a teacher, and now teaches science in a rural comprehensive school in Wales. He is a beekeeper and lives near Hay-on-Wye with his wife and two daughters.AMY HUSBAND studied Graphic Art at Liverpool School of Art. Her first picture book, Dear Miss, was winner of the Cambridgeshire Children's Picture Book Award in 2010, and she also wrote and illustrated Dear Santa, in the same series. Amy lives in York with her partner, working in a studio with views of York Minster. The Story of Life is her first book for Frances Lincoln.

This is an exciting and dramatic story about how life began and developed on Planet Earth, written especially for younger children. At first, nothing lived on Earth. It was a noisy, hot, scary place. Choking gas exploded from volcanoes and oceans of lava bubbled around the globe... Then in the deep, dark ocean, something amazing happened. This is an exciting and dramatic story about how life began and developed on Planet Earth, written especially for younger children. The authors explain how the first living cell was created, and how the cells multiply and create jellyfish and worms, and then fish with bendy necks, which drag themselves out of the water into swampy forests. They tell the story of the biggest creatures that have ever walked on land - the dinosaurs. Long after that, hairy creatures who have babies, not eggs, take over, stand on two legs and spread around the world, some of them living through cataclysmic events such as ice ages and volcanic eruptions. Everyone living today is related to these survivors. With delightful illustrations including lots of detail and humour, all carefully researched and checked, this book shows the development of life on Earth in a truly accessible and simple way.

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