 Click the cover to look inside!    
|
Author: Jennifer Morgan Illustrator: Dana Lynne Andersen
Retail Price: Paperback • $9.95 “Once upon a time” meets science in a children’s picture book that tells the thrilling story of how life began on Earth. This book, the second in Universe trilogy, picks up the story where Born With A Bang: The Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story left off, with the first appearance of life on Earth. It’s a thrilling story about how Earth triumphs over crisis to become bacteria, jellyfish, flowers . . . even dinosaurs! In the third book, Mammals Who Morph: The Universe Tells Our Evolution Story, mammals rise and so do you |
— Dr. Thomas Berry, cultural historian, author of Dream of the Earth
This second book of Jennifer Morgan’s science trilogy begins with the formation of Earth. Utilizing the same large format, brightly colored illustrations and lovingly crafted text, the reader is drawn into the story of life.
Tension between growth and habitat, adaptation of the first organisms to the poisonous clouds of oxygen that accumulated, and everything operating under solar power keep the story lively.
The rise of multi-celled organisms, then plants and fungi, through insects, fish, and amphibians, to reptiles culminates with dinosaurs, birds and early mammals. The meteorite impact that decimated life is described, and the Universe exclaims, “There was Earth, once again, smack in the middle of another disaster.” Lave to Life contains the same wonderful features that impressed me with Born With A Bang. Large, colorful paintings illustrate the book. A time-line across the tops of the pages begins with “molten Earth” and counts toward animals and plants. At the bottom of each page is the science concept referenced in the appendices. The summary page “I learned . . .” ends with “By the way, did you notice that I left lots of fossil clues around for Earthling scientists to piece together my story? Pretty neat, isn’t it?”
— Planetarian: The Journal of International Planetarium Society (June 2003)
