On a beautiful day the last thing Etty wants to do is sit inside baking honeycake. She’d much rather be outside. Who wouldn’t? And there''s no better person to better person to be outside with than Etty''s father, Charles Darwin. While many might be familiar with the story of Darwin’s theory of evolution, few of us have had the opportunity to see Darwin the family man — at home in England, doing what he loved best — walking, exploring, and observing. All the while he pursued the answers to his most persistent questions, and he often had a little bit of help.

Deborah Hopkinson’s lyrical story of Charles Darwin at home with his children portrays a very human side of one of the most revered figures in the history of science. In doing so, she shows the natural affinity children have for the scientific process.