Whether it be swamping great novels thick with fairytales and magic, junior fiction tales of eye-popping drama or picture books complete with gorgeously-rendered art, I'm quite often breathless at the appearance of a newbie factional tale.
Not that One Beetle Too Many is a newbie. The hardcover (with dust jacket) version was published in 2009, yet it's one of those books that just happened to 'slip beneath my radar'. It was therefore a fortuitous moment when I discovered this gorgeous book on the shelves of the National Library bookshop recently.
Heavy on text, but appropriately so, this is the fascinating story of great naturalist Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) - the father of Evolutionary thought. His complex life is beautifully rendered in this book, making it a biography that is accessible to the very young and curious.
From his early life as a young lad who was more interested in collecting beetles and blowing up garden sheds than he was about schoolwork, through his early working life as a 22-year-old embarking on a world adventure aboard the Beagle, this is a story of a man impassioned to find answers about life and humankind.
Matthew Trueman's amazing illustrations are a (most appropriate) combination of divine artwork and collage effect, using leaves, flowers and herbs - making this a book as much about visuals as is it about the life of an extraordinary man.
Title: One Beetle Too Many: The Extraordinary Adventures of Charles Darwin
Author: Kathryn Lasky
Illustrator: Matthew Trueman
Publisher: Candlewick Press, $16.95 RRP
Publication Date: 1 March 2012
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780763658212
For ages: 8+
Type: High Text Picture Book, History Book
