Comment

This thorough, complex, and detailed presentation of human evolution is also humorous, especially for teen and tween readers - roughly ages 10 to 16. Turner contextualizes physiological changes by describing the evolution of specific skills, grouped by topic, with examples that reference archaeological evidence of hominids from around the globe. Several notes about the concept of "race" from the author and other international anthropologists were useful, relevant, and timely. Readers will be caught up in the drama of paleoanthropology; amazed that handprints made with pigment on stone walls are found on every continent, that fossilized bones show that some hominids were alive into old age - years after their injuries or defects would have made them incapable of caring for themselves (...proving that prehistoric hominids took care of one another!), and many more stories related to specific archaeological findings. Also, the author lives in the East Bay! --Erica Siskind, Children's Librarian, Rockridge Branch