Handsome and succinct... The Wall Street Journal Chin's remarkable introduction to the Galapagos is not just a story. It's a biography. It begins with an island's birth six million years ago. A volcano has been growing under the ocean for millions of years, Chin writes. With this eruption it rises above the water for the first time, and a new island is born. In full-page watercolor paintings and small-size panel illustrations, Chin shows how the tremendous explosion leaves a mass of lava, which hardens and grows into an island. Any reader who has ever made a homemade volcano out of baking soda will be hooked. Writing scientific narrative nonfiction for young children is challenge enough, but creating engaging picture books for older children about the natural world isn't easy either. How to pull in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid reader? Credit to Jason Chin, who succeeded at both in Coral Reefs (2011) and Redwoods (2009). He does so again in his latest, Island: A Story of the Galapagos. Chin, as author-illustrator, melds geology with evolution, showing how the land and its inhabitants interact and shape one another in a natural-world interplay. We see how a few intrepid immigrant animals arrive, colonize and transform themselves to accommodate the particular features of their new home. The island grows and changes too as new eruptions lead to the appearance of other nearby islands, while eruptions on the original island grow infrequent, and then cease. ...a remarkable work and an asset for educators... Publishers Weekly, starred Chin's gorgeous illustrations include sweeping double-page spreads of the island and its inhabitants Horn Book Magazine, starred Another superb contribution to scientific literature by Chin. Kirkus, starred ...this fine introduction to [the Galapagos] will surely stimulate readers' interest. School Library Journal, starred The art is masterful in its combination of realism and artistic flow; the layout complements sweeping full-page, full-bleed landscapes with carefully controlled panel sequences that provide additional focus on a process or creature, so the evolution of larger finches' beaks, for instance, is clearly demonstrated and explained. BCCB, starred review
