📖 Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story by Lisa Westberg Peters. Our Family Tree is a good first book on evolution. There’s not much by way of scientific detail, but your young child will enjoy the poetic text and lush illustrations. – Preschool • Elementary

📖 Evolution by Joanna Cole & Aliki. This Let's-Read-and-Find-Out title is out of print, but worth finding at the library or buying used if you are looking for an accessible explanation of evolution for the youngest learner. It's a quick read and Aliki's simple pictures are charming. ​– Preschool • Elementary

📖 Life Story by Virginia Lee Burton. Virginia Lee Burton, beloved author of Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel and The Little House, wrote and illustrated this beautiful book, which envisions the story of the universe and evolutionary change as an epic play in five acts. Burton's 1962 original was completely updated in 2009. – Elementary

📖 In the Past: From Trilobites to Dinosaurs to Mammoths in More than 500 Million Years by David Elliott. This collection of short, humorous poems introduces notable animals across Earth’s evolutionary history, from the Cambrian trilobite that lived over 500 million years ago to the recently-extinct woolly mammoth. – Elementary

📖 Evolving Planet by Erica Kelly & Richard Kissel. Take a tour through evolutionary history in this heavily illustrated guide to life on Earth. Starting with the Cambrian explosion, the book introduces characteristic animals from each period. As you progress through the periods, the "Geologic Time Scale" helps orient you in time, and a map shows the changing positions of the continents. Mass extinctions are also noted throughout. – Elementary • Middle

📖 On the Origin of the Species: Young Readers’ Edition by Rebecca Stefoff (Charles Darwin). Stefoff’s Young Reader’s Edition of On the Origin of the Species “makes Darwin’s cornerstone of modern science accessible to readers of all ages. Meticulously curated to honor Darwin’s original text, this compelling edition also provides contemporary insight, photographs, illustrations, and more.” – Middle • High

📺 NOVA: Australia's First 4 Billion Years from PBS. Set in Australia (paleontologists' paradise), this 4-part miniseries (54-minute episodes) explores the origins of life, the Cambrian explosion, the giant reptiles of the Mesozoic, and life after the dinosaurs. – Middle • High

📺 Your Inner Fish from PBS. "Your Inner Fish reveals a startling truth: Hidden within the human body is a story of life on Earth. This scientific adventure story takes viewers from Ethiopia to the Arctic Circle on a hunt for the many ways that our animal ancestors shaped our anatomical destiny." You can currently watch this excellent 3-part series, based on Neil Shubin's book, Your Inner Fish, on Amazon or at HHMI (free). – Middle • High

🔗 Content Connection: Geology. Learn about the history of Earth.

📖 When Fish Got Feet, Sharks Got Teeth, and Bugs Began to Swim by Hannah Bonner. This funny and informative cartoon guide to the Paleozoic describes life in the Silurian and Devonian. “Take a fun, fact-filled trip back to Earth as it was 430 million years ago. Then, watch as continents drift and oceans take shape. Watch out (!) as fish get toothier, plants stretch skywards and bugs get bigger. Soon fish get feet and four-legged creatures stalk the planet.” – Elementary

📖 When Bugs Were Big, Plants Were Strange, and Tetrapods Stalked the Earth by Hannah Bonner. Bonner’s second cartoon prehistory guide describes life in the Carboniferous and Permian Periods, shortly before the Age of the Dinosaurs. “Children will read "news reports" including a weather forecast from 320 million years ago and an emergency broadcast about the swift extinction that would end the Permian period.” – Elementary

🔗 Content Connection: Dinosaurs. The Mesozoic Era is known as the Age of the Dinosaurs.

📺 Walking with Prehistoric Beasts. Fans of Walking with Dinosaurs (see Dinosaurs) will enjoy this six-episode follow-up series (30 min. each), which examines the Age of the Mammals. Made in 2001, but the graphics hold up pretty well. – All

📖 Children of Time by Anne Weaver. This terrific book imagines episodes in the lives of five groups of humanoids from the species Australopithecus africanus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens sapiens (anatomically modern human). Weaver, a paleoanthropologist, constructed each story by merging scientific evidence and creative license. The result is a collection of fascinating and memorable stories accompanied by informative end-of-chapter notes. – Elementary • Middle

📖 Lucy Long Ago by Catherine Thimmesh. This is the fascinating story of the discovery of Lucy and of scientists' efforts to fit her into the human evolution story. Thimmesh does a wonderful job of showing how scientists continually adapt and refine their models in response to new fossil discoveries. – Middle

📖 Every Bone Tells a Story by Jill Rubalcaba and Peter Robertshaw. Learn about human evolution and the messy, controversy-rich world of archaeological and paleontological research in this excellent nonfiction book. Rubalcaba and Robertshaw focus on four important hominin discoveries: Turkana Boy, Lapedo Child, Kennewick Man, and Iceman. As the authors write in the introduction, "The remains of four ordinary people engaged thousands of scientific minds to produce countless deductions, which have fueled endless fiery debates." Highly recommended. – Middle • High

📺 NOVA: Becoming Human from PBS. The three episodes in this 2009 miniseries (53 min. each) track human evolution, from the first humanoid ancestor to modern humans. – Middle • High

🔗 Content Connection: Prehistory. Explore the world of the first humans.

📖 Island: A Story of the Galápagos by Jason Chin. This is the tale of the formation, inhabitation, and sinking of an island in the Galapagos archipelago over millions of years. The story ends in 1835, with the arrival of a ship carrying a young British naturalist. The endnotes briefly describe the process of natural selection. Chin's wonderful illustrations make this book a must-read. – Elementary

📖 The Tree of Life by Peter Sis. Sis’ unusual biography of Charles Darwin will be enjoyed by students of all ages. Chock full of illustrations, maps, diary entries, and text looping all over the page, Tree of Life is meant to be pored over rather than plowed through. – Elementary

📖 One Beetle Too Many by Kathryn Lasky. Here's an exuberant picture book biography of Charles Darwin, perfect for an elementary school child. Lasky adopts a light, humorous tone in describing Darwin's life and discoveries. – Elementary

📖 Darwin by Alice McGinty. This is yet another good picture book about Charles Darwin. McGinty's biography includes excerpts of Darwin's own writings and touches on Darwin's faith and his efforts to reconcile his scientific findings with his Christian beliefs. – Elementary

📖 Charles and Emma by Deborah Heiligman. This critically acclaimed nonfiction book focuses on the relationship between Darwin and his wife, Emma. At 288 pages, this is an in-depth account; recommended for older students who want to dive into the topic. – Middle • High