Author Carolyn Meyer has researched her historical novel about Charles Darwin so meticulously that perhaps even her famous subject would be pleased.  Using sources such as Edna Healey’s Emma Darwin: The Inspirational Wife of a Genius, and The Autobiography of Charles Darwin and Selected Letters, edited by Darwin’s third son, Francis Darwin, Meyer builds her story around a good supply of factual information.

 The son of an English country doctor, Darwin tells about his boyhood love of roaming the Shrewsbury countryside collecting, studying, and categorizing plants and animals, often at the expense of his formal education.  Though his father worried that Charles lacked the focus necessary to lead a successful life, Darwin’s boyhood passion proved to be the beginning of his life-long endeavor, and served him well on the voyage of the HMS Beagle and the subsequent writing of On the Origin of the Species.

 This story of a boy who followed his passion has plenty of excitement and adventure to please young readers.  A map of Darwin’s travels, diagrams of the HMS Beagle, a bibliography and online sources will aid readers who want to know more.