The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin

This book, subtitled “A Book Depicting the Life of Charles Darwin” presents the life of iconoclast and scientist Charles Darwin and his contributions to our understanding of the process of natural selection and of the evolution of living things.

Darwin is of course best known for his theory of the science of evolution. Darwin published his ideas with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species.

Sís begins with Darwin’s childhood, moving on to his time as a medical student, and the voyage around the world on the H.M.S. Beagle that provided Darwin with the materials to form the basis of his discoveries.

As usual, the drawings by Sís show more are outstanding, and include excerpts from Darwin’s journals about the voyage and what he found on it, such as descriptions of many unique species, and a collection of fossil bones. As Darwin wrote:

“The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life and has determined my whole career . . . I owe to the voyage the first real training or education of my mind. I was led to attend closely to several branches of natural history, and thus my powers of observations were improved, though they were already fairly developed.”

Much of the text is divided into three sections: “Public Life,” “Private Life,” and “Secret Life.” Why secret life? Because his theory of evolution constituted a revolution in thinking, one that was extremely polarizing and controversial. He was afraid to publish, and only did so when he feared that a rival, Alfred Russel Wallace, might beat him to it.

Darwin’s theories were fiercely attacked by the religious establishment, and in particular the Bishop of Oxford, who was appalled at the proposition that man could be descended from an ape.

But Darwin persisted, and eventually of course, his ideas were vindicated.

Peter Sís, children’s book author/illustrator, is known for his picture books that aren’t really just for children. In this tribute to Darwin, once again as in other books he celebrates the power of ideas - particularly when they are resisted by the authorities - and the courage of those who promulgated those ideas.

The illustrations by Sís are standouts; made from fine pen and ink and watercolors, they are detailed evocations of historical documents from Darwin’s time and and truly wonder-inspiring. He also incorporates excerpts of handwritten passages from Darwin’s notebooks, diaries, correspondence, and published writings. In addition, there are charts, maps, and a gatefold spread highlighting the ideas presented in The Origin of Species.

Evaluation: This book with its mesmerizing pictures teaches some important lessons about truth, courage, and persistence even when it may result in social censure and widespread calumny. show less

The Tree of Life has a dream-like quality. Reading excerpts of Darwin's journals and letters as well as supplementary text and sublime illustrations by Peter Sis, it I almost felt like I were Darwin myself looking back on my life, and God was I cool! Sis does a superb job of portraying Darwin as a complex character, from a headstrong child to adventure-seeking young man aboard the H.M.S. Beagle, to family man and scientific pioneer. This book is appropriate for children and young adults, though I don't know how well it would work as a class read-aloud. Students could read it from cover to cover or pick and choose memories and events in Darwin's life as if they were flipping through the pages of a diary. It's hard to imagine students show more looking at these illustrations and not wanting to learn more about Darwin. show less

I really like the way Peter Sís does biographies. Lovely illustrations (although I liked the ones in Starry Messenger even better). They include quotes from the subject of the biography, and I think they're done very well so that it feels like you're hearing him speak. I'm hoping Sís has more that I can go look up.

The tree of life chronicles the life and work of Charles Darwin.

I have read others of Peter Sis, and this measures up to the rest of them. It was wonderfully objective and illustrated with Sis's totally original drawings. This would be a great book to add to children's libraries for variety in perspective.

Since this book gave a lot of information about Darwin's work as a naturalist, aside from his theories about human natural selection, this would be a fantastic book to supplement older children's studies in biology possibly while making a catalog of tree leaves or bugs. I also think this book would be a good tool for students creating a time line of historical events in the 1800s.

The sheer scope and detail within this book is amazing to behold. The stories within the story that are compiled of multiple small pages with intricate drawings and excerpts from Darwin's writing could be books unto themselves. Each picture and series of pictures could be studied in detail extensively over periods of time. The multi genre approach, classic of Sis's, lends great depth to the story of Darwin: letters, diary entries, notes on drawings, descriptions of theories are presented in different formats and structures that keep the reader engaged in the text.

Curricular connections: The story of Darwin's life and learnings could lead in to a study of the history of natural science or of the theories of evolution and natural show more selection. The book also would serve as a fine mentor text to teaching multi genre writing techniques: Even with just two pages from the book, teachers and students could model a variety of writing strategies to tell a story or report a phenomenon. show less

For this lavishly illustrated biography on the man who formulated the theory of evolution, Sís based himself on Charles Darwin's own many detailed notes, letters and various writings. We follow Darwin from birth to his student days and then his five-year voyage on the Beagle which took him around South America, to South Africa and Australia, among other places and during which time Darwin spent much time on dry land collecting plant and animal samples. This voyage eventually led him to formulate his theory of evolution, something which he hesitated for a long time to publish because he knew that it would be badly received by religious institutions. Each spread is richly illustrated and brimming with information, almost too much show more information for my liking, which wouldn't have been a problem had I not found it difficult to navigate through it. This wasn't my favourite book by Peter Sís so far, but it is an interesting and very beautiful to look at overview of the famous naturalist's life. show less

The material for the book is drawn from Darwin's letters, his autobiography, and the first edition of On the Origin of Species, so the research is sound. It is the presentation that I had trouble with, ironically enough. Although the topic was interesting and the drawings had potential, Sís tried to pack so much into 37 pages that the type and the illustrations are very small. One spread is comprised of 32 rectangular squares, each one designed as a page. To be honest, I thought this one disappointing after reading some of his other books.