Some horn-tooting

My publisher just forwarded me the review from the March issue of School Library Journal of my four-book series Humans: An Evolutionary History. My first act was to call Joyce Stanton, the awesome editor who worked with me on the series, to thank her for pushing me to make each volume as strong as it could be.

This project was and is near and dear to my heart. It was also a lot of work. I’m pretty pleased with this review:

Gr 8 Up–The origin of the human species is always a topic of educational inquiry as well as fierce debate. Providing students with information that is credible, detailed, and appealing can be challenging: these books exceed the challenge. Stefoff provides an enlightening and entertaining history of the evolution of Homo sapiens, their ancestors, and cousins, from primitive origins to today. The clear, insightful texts are accented by intriguing sidebars and colorful photos, maps, and graphs. The author provides compelling details from the lives of innovators such as Darwin and Leaky, intelligently discusses the tools of the trade, and deftly explores many monumental discoveries, such as those of Australopithecus in 1924 (First Humans) and the Old Man of La Chapelle in 1908 (Ice Age Neanderthals), and of a “family tree” for mitochondrial DNA (Modern Humans). Readers will be drawn into these discussions and the mysteries that surround our evolutionary story.–Brian Odom, Pelham Public Library, AL

School Library Journal, March, 2010