Grow: Secrets of Our DNA

One can only call this book amazing and rave about the text explanations while enthusiastically applauding the skillfully rendered watercolor artistry accompanying the story. Introducing the mystery of the master molecule DNA to youngsters can be challenging, but author Nicola Davies, along with illustrator Emily Sutton, have made this journey into a pleasure trip. Starting out by showing that all living things grow, and how the patterns of growth are determined by the environment, they introduce the concept of adaptation while avoiding that term. They show how bodies change with growth by following a chain of instructions known as a code, which is DNA. Different patterns of the building blocks form genes and, incredibly, about six and one-half feet of DNA, or more than twenty thousand genes, work together to make a human body. The eye-catching artwork invites children to ask questions, and the accompanying storylines generates wonder in this outstanding science book. This mysterious DNA connects all humans, and clearly, the message comes across for the youthful reader that all life has been written in one language: that of DNA.