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My DS6 wants to learn all about evolution. Everything he learns keeps coming back to this point. I did take evolution in college but I'm having trouble distilling it down for him. Does anyone know of any books/videos on this subject for kids? Ideally, skin color and other observable differences in humans would be involved.

the book "Life on Earth The Story of Evolution" by Steve Jenkins is a good book. It might be to elementary for your son, I don't know but it's worth a check out at the library. He starts with the beginning of life, moves on to Darwin and illustrates how beak shaped diverged, then survival of the fittest, variation and mutation, how new species develop, good designs and extinctions.

THis book doesn't have anything about skin color. I do have a book that has that in it but I'll have to think about which book and get back to you.

Other than some specific TV shows, and given his age, you will probably have to distill some things. There are lots of things to consider - not just skin color, but eye shape and color, sweath glands, body shape, muscle types, etc.

From general to specific:

A highly theoretical view. But a great read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene

More Specific Authors relating to biological and humans. Look through the cited titles for ideas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loren_Eiseley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould

And this classic:

http://www.amazon.com/Naked-Ape-Zoologists-Study-Animal/dp/0385334303

And I have this on my shelf - have not read it yet. It unites many different fields. Inter library loan might be cost effective.

http://www.amazon.com/Human-Evoluti...mp;s=books&qid=1240950357&sr=8-1

For skin color, this study seems to be the last word.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skin_color

Other:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_body_shape
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_shape
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/07/3/text_pop/l_073_04.html

These are great resources. Thanks. My son and I have different skin colors. I do have a few kids' books about skin color but they're cursory, so discussing evolution presents a fantastic opportunity to finally explain our skin color differences to his satisfaction.

I think I'm going to get: Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story and Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution for starters.

He's pretty well educated on reproduction. I bought an age-appropriate book and fixed it with a pen to make it more accurate. Ha ha! As for appreciating the natural female form, DS6 is going to receive a copy of this book: http://www.thecenturyproject.com/newsite/main.html when he's just a tad older.

Becky at the Farm School blog ( http://farmschool.wordpress.com ) has a huge list of evolution resources (type evolution or Darwin into her search box, or click on her science tab for some other ideas) for elementary age children.

peace
minnie

Try the "Walking with..." series from the BBC. (Walking with Prehistoric Creatures, Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Cavemen, etc. etc.).

My DS7 has been glued to these since he discovered their existence!

Val

DW's family has a lot of both dark skin and light due to several mixed relatives. DW's sister looks very much like my sister's kids whose dad is Choctaw. My sister and I are part Cherokee and Apache.

DW and Mr W have full epicanthic folds and are both very fair. Mr W gets some stares esp from Chinese because he is fair and blue eyed and looks very Chinese in his eyes.

One of my classmates in HS had blonde hair and blue eyes and very chocolate skin due to her mixed heritage. Two of my nephews are the same way. It's very striking.

They get a bit of guff from pure whites and indians over it, but I had them look up "hybrid vigor" and we discussed what it meant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterosis

O.k.,my first choice from the library: Our Family Tree has beautiful illustrations but he snored through the text. I guess he expected more detail. He kept saying, "Yes, but how?" and "How do they know all of this?"

I've got a library hold on look at "Life on Earth" by Steve Jenkins and I'm also going to buy "Born with a Bang: The universe tells our cosmic story" by Jennifer Morgan. It's a three book series. Second title is From "Lava to Life" and the third is "Mammals that morph." DS is going to love those. He can read them over and over, one at a time and ask all his questions until he moves on to the next.

OH yes, I'd forgotten about those...we went through the whole series by Jennifer MOrgan.

Mammals Who Morph: The Universe Tells the Story of Evolution by Jennifer Morgan