Clutch

My six -- soon to be seven -- year-old daughter is intrigued by the idea that all life is distantly related. She wants me to buy her a book that we can read together, to explain the basics of genetics and its relation to evolution.

Any suggestions? She's a bright wee thing, but seven years old nonetheless. A kid's book proper would be better than a basic adult's book, all things being equal.

Thanks.

Doubting Didymus

Hmm, there was a similar thread not so long ago, here.

Most of those suggestions are aimed for a twelve year old, though. Six years old? Genetics?

If you ask me, I'd say forget about genetics and focus on extinct organisms, fossils, books about dinosaurs, those incredible ancient mammals, particularly 'cavemen'. I can remember being fascinated by photographs of lucy at a young age. Thinking about the evolution of man from australopithecines is one of the best ways to start conceptualising our connection with the rest of life.

lpetrich

Or introduce her to some directly-accessible biology, like gardening and watching birds and squirrels and the like. Or watching lots of nature documentaties and going on wilderness expeditions.

Or perhaps doing some exercises in taxonomy, simple ones like listing various features and see what organisms have what.

What is it covered with? Hair? Feathers? Scales? Shells? Bark? Nothing?

Can it move? Respond to its environment? Make sounds?

Can it walk? Hop? Fly? Swim? Is it fixed in place?

Does it have two walking limbs? Four? Six? Eight? More?

Can it grab anything?

What does it like to eat? Does it have teeth? Or a beak?

Thus, one can show that the green color of a frog and a plant leaf does not suggest any great relationship between them except for frogs trying to hide by looking like leaves.

It would be interesting to see what little kids pick up best and find the easiest to understand.

As to how to present evolution, one could present it as organisms desiring to have certain features. Yes, that seems Lamarckian/vitalistic, but it's a convenient shortcut.

Clutch

Well, she's been interested in that stuff since she was three. (At four she practically dragged me to a special dinosaur exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum.)

I know what you're saying, and I, personally, don't see any need to rush onwards in our reading material. But tell her that. Every day for the past two weeks she grabs me, if she finds me relaxing or reading, and says, "Dad, can you tell me more about the genes?"

So, like all parents sooner or later, my primary motive is to get her to stop bugging me. I've ordered pz's recommendation from the other thread, and hopefully that will give enough information about the family relations to cool her jets for a while.

Thanks for the link.

contracycle

Never talk down to children!!!!

Get her a kids encyclopedia, there are several varieties and they will be heavily used by the sounds of things. For one thing she will be able to access it at will rather than going through you or to a computer.

Or, get a real encyclopedia and just have it in the house. I grew with a Britannica from 1920, it was cool even though it was outdated. This makes you more the conduit but you will be suitably equipped.

Jack the Bodiless

I think kids can handle basic genetics. Eye color, for instance: the dominance of brown over blue, the imposibility of two blue-eyed parents producing a brown-eyed child (whereas two brown-eyed parents CAN produce a blue-eyed child if they both carry the recessive blue gene). That's something that could be explained by laying out the various combinations, and it has relevance to the "real world".

...OK, there might be an unforeseen problem if the blue-eyed mother of your kid's best friend had been fooling around with a brown-eyed lover.

Clutch

Okay!!!!

I don't. Never have.
We have a set. It is excellent, but does not contain the material mentioned in my OP.
We have a set -- two, in fact. Once again: What she's asked for is a book that she and I can read together.

If no such thing exists, then of course there are other options.

!!!!

Coragyps

The Evolution Book by Sara Stein, Workman Publishing, might help. Amazon has it cheap, too.

[ edited to add a reference to internetinfidels in the url ]

acidphos

The copy I have is now about 10 years old and a little outdated, but The Cartoon Guide to Genetics by Gonick and Wheelis might be worth checking out also.

edit: I can't spell

livius drusus

I adore Larry Gonick. For the big picture, his Cartoon History of the Universe series is incomparable.