When Planet Earth Was New

I was startled by the beauty and comforted by the narrative. Excellence personified.

I'm a high school science teacher (biology & astronomy), and I also have two young sons (3rd grade & kindergarten). I know that both my boys would love the gorgeous illustrations, and the writing and information is just at the right level for them. I can also see using the book in my biology class as an introduction or review of early Earth. It has just the right amount of content for an overview.

A visual feast, When Planet Earth Was New is an absolutely beautiful book. The illustrations are amazingly well done. This is a book that both kids and adults will want to look at repeatedly, just to admire. And hopefully, in that time time, the brief verse regarding the earth's history and evolution will start to sink into impressionable minds.

When Planet Earth Was New is a fantastic introduction to the history of our planet. It gives only the broadest strokes, but that perfectly lays the basic foundation upon which a stronger knowledge base can be built. James Gladstone knows how to keep it on a level his intended audience can easily understand.

The language used is simple and the font is large and clear. The words are on a solid background as opposed to being overlaid on the pictures.

And did I mention the pictures were pretty? Seriously, this book could easily be turned into a coffee table book. Katherine Diemart is a very talented artist, and each picture looks like she spent lots of time getting it just perfect.

After the meat of the book is over, the illustrations for each page are shown again in thumbnail form with explanation about what is being witnessed in each particular image. There is also a glossary that explains some of the more unfamiliar words, as well as a brief author's note.

Overall, When Planet Earth Was New is absolutely worth getting for your kiddo. Preferably in hardback if that becomes available. I kind of want it for my kid, and she's too old for it!

My daughter loved this book. The illustrations drew her in and the sentences were easy for her to read (with some assistance). She found the concept of "millions" and "billions" hard to understand since she is not used to such big numbers. So some explanation of the magnitude of time involved will be the cherry on the cake.

The section at the end, with the thumbnails, really helped her in putting everything together.

The combination of artful text and beautiful illustrations make the idea of evolution come to life, In the author's note the author says his goal was to tell about the incredible changes that occurred over the more than 4.5 billion years on our planet. That is exactly what he has done. The back matter that includes small reproductions of each illustration, with additional information is a real plus. These illustrations and text invite readers to revisit the book many times.

Lets just put it out there, this is a book about evolution. It is simple and easy to understand. It goes from the birth of the earth until today. While the story is readable for bedtime, for those more curious it includes a glossary, and a more detailed timeline in the back. But the best thing about this book are the illustrations. It doesn’t matter if they are dark and violent, or bright and cheery, they are the cherry on the top of this read. I would hand any and all on the walls of my house.

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Absolutely gorgeous artwork documenting the origins of life on planet Earth. Definitely recommend that all parents sit down and read this book with their kids. It manages to break down the origins of our planet without being talking down to kids or being trite. Also, did I mention the illustrations are gorgeous? They are, it's fantastic.

I absolutely adore this book. It is not only factually relevant, but artistically accurate and beautiful. My favorite part was the deeper information provided in the back of the book regarding each image. Will be purchasing this book for my daughter.

Take a trip through time and space and discover how our planet - and life on our planet - evolved. Beginning billions of years ago when Earth was forming, When Planet Earth Was New follows our planet's formation through volcanoes and comet bombardment; through the formation of the oceans and evolution of life in the oceans and on the land. Beautiful, digitally-enhanced watercolor spreads showcase colorful artwork of each moment captured, with brief descriptive text that preschool and early elementary audiences will find breathtaking. A gorgeous spread showcases life on Earth today: a blue whale, birds flying overhead, and a marching line of animals, including a human being. A section at the end of the book presents each spread in thumbnail format, with additional explanatory text, and a glossary and list of sources round out this introduction to astronomy for young readers.

My 5 year-old loves this book; the spare text is just right for him and he's fascinated with the changes our planet went through on its journey to the present. It's a beautiful-looking book, and a great addition to elementary nonfiction collections. I can't wait to display a copy in my library.

This is a gorgeous picture book that takes you through the early years of Earth's history. The illustrations are stunning and the history is as simple as one could make it for a child to enjoy. I personally would've loved something like this as a kid.

Would highly recommend to everyone!

When Planet Earth Was New is a lovely journey into the scientific origins of Earth. My kids (3 & 6) were so baffled by the concepts introduced by this book, I loved answering all their questions. It is difficult for small kids to comprehend things like enormous amounts of time and that there was once a time without humans (let alone that things existed before they were born!), but introducing these topics is so important to broadening their minds to the scientific world and sparking their interest and curiosity. We enjoyed the lovely illustrations which were vibrant and beautifully detailed. The text was easy to read aloud and proved to be a great book for my beginning reader to read on her own. I loved that in addition to being informative the book tells a story about Earth that made When Planet Earth Was New incredibly satisfying.

I'll be looking for this one for our bookshelf when it comes out.

When Planet Earth Was New by James Gladstone. Illustrated by Katherine Diemert. Owlkids Books. 5 Stars. A swimmingly marvelous tour through the cosmos surrounding the birth of our Earth spanning to now as we live in peopled cities. Suitable color illustrations show the intensity, breadth and remoteness of the atmosphere, the heat, lively expanses of water, etc. An early to middle grade-school educational type of book with added information at the back. Highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley and Owlkids Books for providing this ebook for review.

This was a lovely, poetic look at the history of earth. Short and simple, I could almost hear my mom reading this to me as a kid. The pictures were beautiful.
I particularly loved the look back section at the end. That really added a more educational aspect to the book without interrupting the storytelling and voice.

When Planet Earth Was New written by James Gladstone and illustrated by Katherine Diemert, is a beautifully illustrated tour (a quick one) of Earth’s history from a molten, poisonous ball to the blue marble we now think of. Aimed at younger children, the text is minimal but lyrical and makes use of welcome repetition (always a plus for the youngest audiences). One example (minus the text’s more poetic line breaks) reads: “A sky full of water vapor poured down as rain. For millions and millions and millions of years it rained. The rain formed huge oceans. The oceans are where life first grew.” The text is quietly engaging, but the true highlights are the illustrations, which employ a variety of methods and are striking across the board. While the main text does not go into much detail, a back-matter page asks readers to “look again” at the illustrated changes in the planet, and offers up thumbnails of each page with a small paragraph of further explanation. For example, here is the back-matter description for the aforementioned page on rain and the oceans:
“As Earth cools, water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into liquid. Clouds fill the sky and rain pours down. So much rain falls that it collects on Earth’s surface and forms the oceans. Towering waves crash and roll.” The book therefore will grow somewhat with its audience. With its semi-hypnotic evocation of time and change and the gorgeous illustrations, When Planet Earth Was New is an easy book to recommend for anyone looking for something for a younger reader/pre-reader.

*thank you to Owlkids Books and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars.
What beautiful illustrations! This a such a wonderful little book to let young readers (and older ones) know what the world was like before humans came to live here. The text is easy to understand and it does a great job of explaining each stage the earth went through. Id definitely recommend this for all children but expecually those who are interested in science or just have a simple curiosity to history.

I absolutely adored this book.

The story is a scientific look at the Earth's evolution-written in an easy to understand way, and yet still delivers tons of information. The pictures alone deserve 5 stars-some amazing artwork in this one-so vibrant and full of color.

This would be such a fantastic book for a toddler or younger kid.

There is also a nice little glossary in the back of the book for added explanations.

Will be gifting this one to everyone I know with a little one for sure (and picking up a copy for my kiddo as well).

<i>I received this e-book from NetGalley in exchange for a review. Would also like to thank James Gladstone and Owlkids Books for the opportunity to read and review this beautiful book.<i>

Oh this was a delight! Full of amazing pictures and actual facts, this is a perfect addition to my youngest's shelf!

Sweet and simple, with easy to understand language and facts to spark the imagination and more in depth discussions, this book was actually fun to read to my kids. It would make a great gift for the little one in your life, something a little more unique that the usual fairy tale.

As a homeschool mom, this also fits right in with our science curriculum.
Just enough, not overbearing.

This is a wonderful book for elementary school children. My daughter was very excited to read this book with me. It was neat to see the way everything began and all the different descriptions about what was happening.