Children’s Books and Evolution

My six-year-old daughter is in Kindergarten, and I always enjoy looking at her Scholastic book order forms when they are sent home. We both love reading together, and since she is starting to read on her own, I like buying books for her. As I was browsing through the forms, I came across this book—The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate—by Jacqueline Kelly.

Notice that it was awarded the Scholastic Book Clubs “Best Book of 2009.” I guess the celebration of the Year of Darwin extends even to books for children! According to one reviewer of the book on Amazon, each chapter is prefaced with a quote from Darwin’s Origin of Species. Although I haven’t read the book, the description indicates that the underlying theme promotes the false idea that Darwin’s evolutionary ideas (historical/origins science) are important for modern scientific discovery (operational science). I have noticed this is a very common tactic to advance evolutionary ideas in the public eye (see Making the Evolution Pill Easier to Swallow). The book is recommended for grades 5–7, and states it has “some mature content.” Even so it was sad to see my six-year-old had the opportunity to order it. Parents, you need to be vigilant about what your children are being exposed to in school, and be sure that you are laying the proper foundation in God’s Word for your children at home. Check out some of our resources that can help you achieve this.