Recognizing the importance of underlining major ideas for young learners, Millicent Selsam follows Charles Darwin aboard the Reagle and travels with him to the jungles of South America, across the pampas of Argentina and the Andes of Chile to the Galapagos Islands and then across the Pacific to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia. The animals he observed, the plant life he studied, the fossils he uncovered provided him with a wealth of information that brought into question the accepted scientific theories of the time. As Darwin solves the mysteries created by his new evidence, the theory of evolution is born. Youngsters familiar with the theory will be equally fascinated by its own evolution in his succinct introduction to a vital human story. Anthony Ravielli's animal representations in two colors are especially noteworthy.