Who Will It Be?

This is a gorgeous children's book that teaches about evolution and how we are all connected. Pages show vivid watercolor dots and images with a little clue about what the embryo will be. It has webbed feet, it has gills, etc. and asks what it might be. By the end, we find out that it's a human baby and that human embryos go through similar stages to many other species and then ultimately develop into humans. End pages give lots more information about how we evolve as we're developing in utero, and how other species do.

The art is really beautiful, but it's a little confusing because it doesn't generally accurately illustrate what the embryo looks like at each stage. Kids may come away feeling that a developing baby looks like a stylized fox curled into its tail, or think something develops with rows and rows of beautiful feathers spiraling out. These are just illustrations of the concepts and not accurate illustrations of the developing species, but it may lead to some inaccurate views of exactly what embryos look like. That said, the art in these pages is really beautiful and if you can help kids see that it's not literal then this will make a fun, educational and inspiring children's book.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.