Starred Review ALA Booklist (Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2020)

Starred Review Inspired by earlier Victorian naturalists' voyages of discovery, 25-year-old Alfred Wallace left England to explore the Amazon rain forest in 1848 and, later, also explored the Malay Archipelago. He had little money and limited formal education, but he was a gifted naturalist who financed his trip by selling specimens of butterflies, birds, and insects to museums and wealthy collectors. Solitary and curious by nature, Wallace enjoyed exploring new places, observing unusual species, and pondering questions that led to theories and a paper, sent to Charles Darwin, laying out the basics of evolution. Darwin, who had been working on the same ideas for 20 years, arranged for Wallace's paper to be presented along with some of his own notes in 1858, both proposing the theory of evolution. Never was a "rivalry" so generous, courteous, or full of mutual respect. This large, wide-format book offers informative text describing Wallace's adventurous life and evocative illustrations depicting his travels. Many well-chosen quotes bring Wallace's lively voice into the narrative. Reminiscent of detailed linocut prints using several coordinated colors, the handsome digital illustrations are equally effective in creating maps, portraits, displays of collected insects, and panoramic scenes of Wallace crossing oceans, deserts, and rain forests. An absorbing introduction to a notable figure in science history.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

A handsomely designed tribute to the brilliant naturalist who very nearly scooped Darwin.It was "a case of great minds thinking alike," Dorion writes. But while Darwin had slowly, cautiously articulated his hypotheses to himself over decades in his country home, they came as flashes of insight to Wallace in the course of scouring the jungles of the Amazon and the Malay Archipelago for exotic specimens to sell to European collectors. It was Wallace's 1858 letter to Darwin that spurred the latter to go public-and Wallace's salutary lack of ego that turned what might have been a bitter battle over claims of precedence into a long and cordial relationship. Though the author skimps on Wallace's later career and misleadingly tags the heart of his proposed theory as "natural selection" (that was Darwin's term, not Wallace's), she offers clear pictures of his character and his passion for natural science while making generous use of direct quotations. Tennant gives the slightly oversized volume the feel of a collector's album with ranks of accurately drawn tropical beetles, birds, and other specimens. These he intersperses with portraits of eminent colleagues, images of collecting gear, and verdant scenes of the white explorer at work either alone or with one or more Indigenous assistants (the latter only sometimes identified, or even mentioned, in the narrative).A case study of science at its idealistic and paradigm-changing best. (map, glossary, reading list) (Picture book/biography. 9-11)

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A handsomely designed tribute to the brilliant naturalist who very nearly scooped Darwin.It was "a case of great minds thinking alike," Dorion writes. But while Darwin had slowly, cautiously articulated his hypotheses to himself over decades in his country home, they came as flashes of insight to Wallace in the course of scouring the jungles of the Amazon and the Malay Archipelago for exotic specimens to sell to European collectors. It was Wallace's 1858 letter to Darwin that spurred the latter to go public-and Wallace's salutary lack of ego that turned what might have been a bitter battle over claims of precedence into a long and cordial relationship. Though the author skimps on Wallace's later career and misleadingly tags the heart of his proposed theory as "natural selection" (that was Darwin's term, not Wallace's), she offers clear pictures of his character and his passion for natural science while making generous use of direct quotations. Tennant gives the slightly oversized volume the feel of a collector's album with ranks of accurately drawn tropical beetles, birds, and other specimens. These he intersperses with portraits of eminent colleagues, images of collecting gear, and verdant scenes of the white explorer at work either alone or with one or more Indigenous assistants (the latter only sometimes identified, or even mentioned, in the narrative).A case study of science at its idealistic and paradigm-changing best. (map, glossary, reading list) (Picture book/biography. 9-11)

School Library Journal (Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2020)

Gr 5 Up-Alfred Russel Wallace (18231913) was as important as Charles Darwin in the formulation of the theory of evolution, but never as well known. This oversize biography shows how the poverty Wallace experienced in his early life influenced his interest in the natural world in his native England, and then concentrates on his far-flung research trips from 1848 to 1862. He was astonished by the incredible variety of species he observed in the Amazon and the Malay Archipelago. Many of these beetles, butterflies, birds, and mammals are illustrated in muted shades of green, blue, brown, and orange. Digitally produced to look like woodblock prints, their style gives a sense of the past. The observations from Wallace's journals interspersed throughout illuminate his detailed thought processes as he began to recognize the impact of geographic isolation upon the differentiation of similar species. The work he undertook was filled with dangersfires, shipwrecks, tropical diseasesyet he never faltered in his quest to discover as much as he could about life on Earth. Darwin considered Wallace a colleague and wrote, "He rates me much too highly and himself much too lowly." An illustrated glossary is included. VERDICT An important addition to library collections as an introduction to early scientific methods, cooperation between scientists, and an inspiration to would-be naturalists. Frances E. Millhouser, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library, VA