Hello friends, and Happy Earth Day! To help celebrate our lovely blue planet, we’re reading Earth!: My First 4.54 Billion Years, written by Stacy McAnulty and illustrated by David Litchfield, a unique narrative of Earth’s natural history as told by the planet itself.

“Hi, I’m Earth!” begins our narrator, who most will immediately recognize as our very own home planet – though she prefers to be called “Planet Awesome”. Earth takes the reader on a tour of her history and geology, the solar system, and even a crash course on some of the most significant events in her life: dinosaurs, Pangaea, and her newest friends, Homo sapiens (that’s us!). She encourages us to be kind to her – she’s one-of-a-kind after all – and enjoy our stay! She is pretty awesome, after all.

This was such a clever concept, and we really enjoyed it! It was fun to read and learn about the Earth from the perspective of the planet herself, especially with healthy doses of tongue-in-cheek humor and a wealth of educational info covered. The art is great, and really give a personality to every character, be they person, animal, or astronomical body. However, there are a few illustrations that young readers could potentially find distressing: two sad-looking whales caught in a sailor’s net, an asteroid with a threatening grin hurtling toward a field of frightened animals. It’s a small thing, but could upset littler ones, so it’s worth noting. Otherwise, the length was great, the educational aspects are phenomenal, and JJ and I both enjoyed it overall. And awesome way to get kids interested in our planet, and Baby Bookworm approved!

(Note: A copy of this book was provided to The Baby Bookworm by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)