Let me begin by saying that this is, without doubt, the best nonfiction book for young readers that I have come across in a long time! Charles Darwin is well known as the father of the theory of evolution, but few know about his remarkable friendship and collaboration with the botanist Joseph Hooker, who became the director of Kew Gardens. This carefully-crafted, richly-illustrated book draws readers into the lives of both Darwin and Hooker, showing their journeys both before and after their paths crossed. Both men were curious, hard-working, intrepid souls who braved harsh conditions on their travels to gather and study various species of animals and plants. Darwin developed his ideas of natural selection based on his own observations and tremendous help and support from Hooker, at a scary time when such revolutionary theories were considered blasphemous and likely to have severe repercussions.

Not only does this book highlight the sheer revolutionary scope and importance of Darwin and Hooker's extensive scientific work, it portrays their personal friendship and home lives in a warm, endearing way, showing that these incredibly dedicated scientists were wonderfully human as well. The illustrations in this book are simply perfect and guide the reader in understanding Darwin and Hooker's scientific journeys and the concepts of natural selection, evolution of different species from a single ancestor, etc. Unlike many children's nonfiction picture books which read as somewhat dry, factual narratives, this book immediately immerses the reader into the world of these remarkable scientists, as though the reader were experiencing their joys and struggles alongside them in real time. The only additional thing that would have been really nice to have is an appendix at the end, consisting of just one or two pages providing real photographs of Darwin and Hooker and a comprehensive timeline of their major life events in one place, so that the reader can quickly refer to it if they are confused about or need to refresh their memory of the chronological order of events. This is a must-have book for any school library and I will certainly be recommending it to my students, especially the aspiring young scientists. Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC of this unique, inspirational book, and I hope there will be similar books like this in the future, for example focusing on Isaac Newton, Marie Curie, etc.

It's well researched and informative book and it can be appreciated by children and adults as it help to under who Darwin and Hooker were and their researches.
It's well researched, easy to follow, and entertaining. I liked the drawing and the style of writing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

My older grandchildren read this on their own but kept stopping to show the pictures and relating interesting points to the younger children. They said that it was one of the most interesting books that they had read in ages. They are still talking about it a week later and telling their friends and teachers.

Charles Darwin was a naturalist, geologist and biologist. He developed his theory of evolution that all species descended from a common ancestor. Throughout his years of research and exploration, he was supported by Joseph Hooker, who later became the director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.

Read this book to promote discussions on:
- natural history
- evolution
- teamwork
- STEM

This official Kew Gardens product takes us back to the time of Charles Darwin, but ties his story very much with Kew. We see him set sail (and suffer near-constant sea-sickness) on the Beagle, and come back with tons of data and specimens, about the finches’ variety, the Galapagos turtles and so much else. What followed was decades of work finalising and clarifying his findings, and relying heavily on the friendship and support of Joseph Hooker, who himself had sailed away for years, collecting copious botanical samples, to such an extent he was eventually able to follow his father into the role of Director of Kew. Hooker had looked up to Darwin before leaving for his voyages, yet came back to be a principal supporter of the older man’s science.

This is nicely done stuff. The pages looked wordy to me at first, but certainly they’re broken up enough with illustrations and diagrams. The level is decent for upper end of primary school audiences. About the only thing I disliked was the use of first names so much of the time – too chatty and informal, and almost disrespectful. Oh, and it kind of hides Wallace (sorry, “Alfred”) under a rock a bit too much, mentioning his simultaneity with Darwin and then forgetting about him. But as a slice of science history, and a book conveying the truth and importance of evolution, this is still right up there. A highly evolved four and a half stars.

This is a non-fiction book, telling the story of how Darwin, with the help of his good friend Hooker, discovered evolution and natural selection. There are some beautiful illustrations in this book. It would be useful to use when teaching about genetics in KS2, but personally I found it a bit boring in parts, going into lots of details which I think could go over the childrens heads a bit. .

The design and the illustrations of this book are beautiful.
A compelling and interesting story.
Great read

This book is stunning. And I don’t just mean it’s a bit pretty and the design is nice. I mean, beautiful! The illustrations and designs for this book is truly out of this world and the level of detail on each page is a feast for the eyes.

It’s based on such a fantastic topic: Charles Darwin is well known for his ‘On the Origin of Species’ and his theory of evolution. This book is a fab way of exposing this to younger audiences and delving deeper into the life of such an amazing man. But not only that, giving the spotlight to Robert Hooker too, a man instrumental in these groundbreaking discoveries was also so so nice to see. His friendship with Darwin is such a brilliant focal point. I truly loved reading this!

The information and content is sound, thorough, insightful and informative. It’s written in an easy to comprehend way and balances information with ease of understanding so well.

Separated into four parts, the book sees us on a journey through the early lives of Charles & Robert, their adventures on their respective voyages and the starts and progressions of their great friendship to the amazing legacies they left behind them. It was really compelling and interesting reading. Loved it from start to finish!