This is a wonderful book for elementary school children. My daughter was very excited to read this book with me. It was neat to see the way everything began and all the different descriptions about what was happening.

A very short descriptive of how Earth became the planet as it is today. It gives you the important key parts of to understand how long it took to have life here on Earth for the kids who are curious or for parents who want to educate their children. My kids enjoyed the illustrations. The watercolor illustrations is so beautiful and rich it was amazing to see so many colors stand out. No doubt, my kids were amazed how descriptive it was and it made them so curious of what happened next. It was a good thing to keep it short and simple since kids do have a tendency of not focusing for so long haha. All in all, this was an amazing read for my kids and they just can't stop talking about Earth! haha. I would recommend this book for parents to read their kids.

This is a nicely illustrated book about the history of mother planet, starting all the way since when it was still new.  Stage after stage, what the earth has experience and how life appears on earth, and how it eventually became what it is like today. The book is well organized, and extracted effectively the most important beats of the earth history. Every page is beautiful and deserves a "WOW". The chronicle chart at the end of the book is a big plus, it effectively shifted the book from a simple poem of the earth to an effective science book. Instead of just "WOW", there is a lot for kids to take home. 

Would highly recommend this book.  
ps: I received this book as an exchange of honest review from NetGallery.

Oh this was a delight!  Full of amazing pictures and actual facts, this is a perfect addition to my youngest's shelf!  

Sweet and simple, with easy to understand language and facts to spark the imagination and more in depth discussions, this book was actually fun to read to my kids.   It would make a great gift for the little one in your life, something a little more unique that the usual fairy tale.  

As a homeschool mom, this also fits right in with our science curriculum.  
Just enough, not overbearing.

I absolutely adored this book.

The story is a scientific look at the Earth's evolution-written in an easy to understand way, and yet still delivers tons of information. The pictures alone deserve 5 stars-some amazing artwork in this one-so vibrant and full of color.

This would be such a fantastic book for a toddler or younger kid.

There is also a nice little glossary in the back of the book for added explanations.

Will be gifting this one to everyone I know with a little one for sure (and picking up a copy for my kiddo as well).

<i>I received this e-book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.  Would also like to thank James Gladstone and Owlkids Books for the opportunity to read and review this beautiful book.<i>

My first impression of this book is that it is gorgeous. The art is some of the best I've seen in children's books.

The content of the book was perfect for grade school level, to build pre-knowledge of the evolution of life on Earth. None if was out of grasp for a kid.  I would definitely recommend it for kids! 

I also liked the lists of resources to find out more information. My own children often find themselves more curious after they read, so resource lists are definitely great.

*thank you to Owlkids Books and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars.
What beautiful illustrations! This a such a wonderful little book to let young readers (and older ones) know what the world was like before humans came to live here. The text is easy to understand and it does a great job of explaining each stage the earth went through. Id definitely recommend this for all children but expecually those who are interested in science or just have a simple curiosity to history.

'When Planet Earth Was New' by James Gladstone with illustrations by Katherine Diemert is a picture book about the evolution of our planet over millions of years.

Told with short sentences, this is a picture book for young children.  The sentences are few and fairly simple.  The book shows the formation of the Earth from days before volcanic formation through water covering the planet.  Early life forms grow, then larger and larger ones until people arrive.

There is a look again section that gives a bit deeper text along with a glossary and a list of sources.

I don't know if children who are 4 or 5 can comprehend numbers like million or billion. The text seems simplistic and I didn't think it was very engaging.  What is engaging are the gorgeous illustrations.  The eye is drawn to them and they fill almost two pages to go along with corresponding text.  There are swirling colors and exploding volcanos.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Owlkids Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

The illustrations are so good. Some more relevant information would've been nice and more engaging.

I thank Netgalley for the opportunity to review this work

Psychedelic history of the Earth at a preschool level

First of all, while the product details list the age range as 4 - 12 years, the text is very brief and really at the preschool level. The illustrations are colorful and vivid, and while psychedelic stretches it a bit, it's not a long bit.

Also, while the book starts when the Earth was new, it's mostly about the evolution of life, not the evolution of the Earth itself. And the majority of the book takes place closer to the present than to when the Earth was, well, "new".

This book isn't actually bad. More content would help. The format is double pages which are about 80% picture and a column for text, which is often only one sentence. There are two pages at the end with thumbnails of all the pictures and captions that tell more than the text in the book proper. Keep it to the preschool set and it's fine.

I was provided a copy for review by the publisher.

Full review (complete with formatting, images, and quotes) can be found at 100% Rock Magazine from the 15th of September 2017.
http://magazine.100percentrock.com/reviews/book-reviews/201709/233616

When Planet Earth Was New is full of the aforementioned gorgeous watercolour illustrations depicting the progression from Earth as a recently-formed planet to the hospitable place we know and love today. This includes the formation of land from molten liquid, the development of oxygen, and many other things important to our existence. 

While not all of the images seemed to be as awe-inspiring as some, those few stunning ones make this book really stand out.

At times, the writing, too, seems a little clunky, and missing the rhythm and snappiness found on other pages of the same book.

But all in all this is a simple but informative introduction to the creation of planet Earth in a book that can reveal more information to readers as they age, including a closer look at each full-page spread and accompanying information about what the page represents in the history of Earth. As well as a glossary of terms, a collection of sources, and an author’s note on what inspired the creation of this book.

There are few enough words to a page that this book will engage even the youngest of kids within the picture book age group, but the endmatter enables the kids from the broad group to go digging further for information about our planet’s past. Just the thing for the budding scientist in your family!

When Planet Earth Was New written by James Gladstone and illustrated by Katherine Diemert, is a beautifully illustrated tour (a quick one) of Earth’s history from a molten, poisonous ball to the blue marble we now think of.  Aimed at younger children, the text is minimal but lyrical and makes use of welcome repetition (always a plus for the youngest audiences).  One example (minus the text’s more poetic line breaks) reads: “A sky full of water vapor poured down as rain. For millions and millions and millions of years it rained. The rain formed huge oceans. The oceans are where life first grew.”  The text is quietly engaging, but the true highlights are the illustrations, which employ a variety of methods and are striking across the board.  While the main text does not go into much detail, a back-matter page asks readers to “look again” at the illustrated changes in the planet, and offers up thumbnails of each page with a small paragraph of further explanation. For example, here is the back-matter description for the aforementioned page on rain and the oceans: 
“As Earth cools, water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into liquid. Clouds fill the sky and rain pours down. So much rain falls that it collects on Earth’s surface and forms the oceans. Towering waves crash and roll.”  The book therefore will grow somewhat with its audience.  With its semi-hypnotic evocation of time and change and the gorgeous illustrations, When Planet Earth Was New is an easy book to recommend for anyone looking for something for a younger reader/pre-reader.

This was a lovely, poetic look at the history of earth. Short and simple, I could almost hear my mom reading this to me as a kid. The pictures were beautiful.
I particularly loved the look back section at the end. That really added a more educational aspect to the book without interrupting the storytelling and voice.

When Planet Earth Was New by James Gladstone. Illustrated by Katherine Diemert. Owlkids Books. 5 Stars. A swimmingly marvelous tour through the cosmos surrounding the birth of our Earth spanning to now as we live in peopled cities. Suitable color illustrations show the intensity, breadth and remoteness of the atmosphere, the heat, lively expanses of water, etc. An early to middle grade-school educational type of book with added information at the back. Highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley and Owlkids Books for providing this ebook for review.

When Planet Earth Was New is a lovely journey into the scientific origins of Earth.  My kids (3 & 6) were so baffled by the concepts introduced by this book, I loved answering all their questions.  It is difficult for small kids to comprehend things like enormous amounts of time and that there was once a time without humans (let alone that things existed before they were born!), but introducing these topics is so important to broadening their minds to the scientific world and sparking their interest and curiosity.  We enjoyed the lovely illustrations which were vibrant and beautifully detailed.  The text was easy to read aloud and proved to be a great book for my beginning reader to read on her own.  I loved that in addition to being informative the book tells a story about Earth that made When Planet Earth Was New incredibly satisfying.

I'll be looking for this one for our bookshelf when it comes out.

Truthfully, I have never seen a children's book this beautiful. Each of the watercolor illustrations are true art, and I can only imagine how happy I would have been as a child if someone had gifted me this book.

The texts are short but informative, and the whole development of planet Earth was explained in an understandable fashion which will surely inspire many children to spend more time reading about planet Earth.

If any parent is reading this review: Do your child and yourself a favor and buy this book, it's truly amazing and you will absolutely love it.

Take a trip through time and space and discover how our planet - and life on our planet - evolved. Beginning billions of years ago when Earth was forming, When Planet Earth Was New follows our planet's formation through volcanoes and comet bombardment; through the formation of the oceans and evolution of life in the oceans and on the land. Beautiful, digitally-enhanced watercolor spreads showcase colorful artwork of each moment captured, with brief descriptive text that preschool and early elementary audiences will find breathtaking. A gorgeous spread showcases life on Earth today: a blue whale, birds flying overhead, and a marching line of animals, including a human being. A section at the end of the book presents each spread in thumbnail format, with additional explanatory text, and a glossary and list of sources round out this introduction to astronomy for young readers.

My 5 year-old loves this book; the spare text is just right for him and he's fascinated with the changes our planet went through on its journey to the present. It's a beautiful-looking book, and a great addition to elementary nonfiction collections. I can't wait to display a copy in my library.

This is a gorgeous picture book that takes you through the early years of Earth's history. The illustrations are stunning and the history is as simple as one could make it for a child to enjoy. I personally would've loved something like this as a kid.

Would highly recommend to everyone!

When Planet Earth Was New sublimely shows how Earth has evolved over the past 4.5 billion years. The reader can not help but be in awe of the transformations. The 'Look Again' feature at the back of the book is invaluable for providing further details of the changes.