Grandmother Fish: A Child’s First Book of Evolution

Written by Jonathan Tweet

Illustrated by Karen Lewis

Read with Permission By

Jonathan Tweet and Karen Lewis 

Keywords

Evolution, Science, Prehistoric, Biology, Family.

Age

3 – 6 years

Summary

“Grandmother Fish takes children and adults through the history of life on our planet and explains how we are all connected.”

Great for any age or time of day, but I usually read this in the afternoon, before playtime, or an activity.

We often neglect our preschool science centers. This book is a science lesson without the cleanup. To me, it’s beautifully written, beautifully illustrated, and entertaining, and about science. When do we ever get something that cool?!?!

Four- and five-year-olds loved it!

I didn’t have a chance to share it with a three-year-old classroom, but I shared it with a two-year-old class who went on making the hooting sound from the story for the rest of the day.

Pro-Tip
Pace yourself. When you come to a question (i.e., can you wiggle, can you hoot, can you chomp, etc.), consider setting the book down and acting out the movements and sounds so the class can do the same. Give yourself a big hug when Grandmother Mammal cuddles her babies. Do not let them chomp their teeth together when you get to that part—use your hands so they can imitate the chomping motion.

When I came to a page with multiple graphics, I slowly dragged my finger, stopping at each graphic, and said the name of each animal. This can help draw young readers back into the story and prepare them to take part in the next sound or motion.

Activity Idea

Personally, I never did a follow-up activity, since the book can be so interactive if you’re not in a hurry, but the book also supports quantifying needs if your lessonplan calls for it. For example, how many could make the chomping motion with their hands? How many could crawl, hoot, etc?  That should be sufficient, but if you wanted to expand on the evolution concept, here’s one idea:

Ask the child to select two primary colors (Red, Yellow, and Blue). Then, ask them to make a prediction on what color may result by mixing them together.

Red + Blue = Purple.

Red + Yellow = Orange.

Blue + Yellow = Green.

It could make a nice Today I Learned spread, in case your school works on Student Portfolios throughout the year.