Origin of Species

[Millie]

Can anyone help? My dd, who's 9, announced today that she'd like to read Darwin's The Origin of Species. (!) While I don't want to discourage her, I think it's WELL beyond her. Does anyone know of a children's version? Or perhaps another book in a similar vein?

And on the same subject, does anyone know the name of the Monkey Trial movie? Dh and I watched it a few years ago and I'd like to see it again.

Thanks!

[LaideeMarjorie]

Can anyone help? My dd, who's 9, announced today that she'd like to read Darwin's The Origin of Species. (!) While I don't want to discourage her, I think it's WELL beyond her. Does anyone know of a children's version? Or perhaps another book in a similar vein?

And on the same subject, does anyone know the name of the Monkey Trial movie? Dh and I watched it a few years ago and I'd like to see it again.

Thanks!

"Inherit the Wind".

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053946/

And, it's just my opinion, but let your daughter read anything she wants (excepting something with extreme sexual or violent content, however you define that, of course). If she gets bored, she'll stop reading it. If she doesn't, then she is a very bright young lady.

--Marjorie

[annie]

I'd agree that Dorling Kindersley do the best graphic books about science, it's awhile since we used them, so I can't give an exact title. I would make both a child's version and the original available. I agree that children should be left to read whatever they want, they will leave it if bored - that's why a more child-friendly version is a useful addition.
The BBC did a good film version of the Voyage of the Beagle some years ago, but I can't find any information about it now. We'll be set for some soon with the 200th birthday/150 years since publication anniverseries.
Inherit the Wind if the film I think.
Can I also recommend a beautiful book called Period Piece, written & illustrated by Gwen Raverat - one of the Darwin grandchildren. It is a lovely portrait of a childhood in late 19C Cambridge, whilst the observations from a child's-eye view are timeless. She finishes it in early adulthood, on the eve of WW1.

[Millie]

Thanks for those suggestions, all! You're quite right; I should let her read anything she likes. I'll check with our library and see what they can come up with.

Annie, Period Piece sounds lovely! I'll look out for it.

[JTACorwyn]

I must admit, I never policed what my daughter read. She's not quite as avid a reader as I am, and unfortunately (to me) gravitates towards True Crime novels (shudder).

What made this work is I also had a personal rule that if she were old enough to ask a question, I owed it to her to give her a true answer. Perhaps not a 100% COMPLETE answer (like when she asked me at age 7 where babies came from...) but a TRUE ONE.

Because she knew she could trust me to both answer her and do so truthfully, she has always has and continues to come to me with her questions. She knows that she wont' always like the answers, and that sometimes her questions might spark a discussion she might prefer to avoid, but she came. And I also tried not to penalize her for truths revealed during such discussions.

For example: A question comes up about some teenaged morality issue among her friends. I tried not to run out of the room and put out a hit on said friend who probably deserved one, or completely forbid her to spend time with that person. It took a good amount of self-control at times. However, I also knew that I cannot choose her friends, and I could not supervise her 24/7 once she reached a certain age so I had to allow her to use her judgement. Having been permitted a certain amount of decision-making all along, she's gotten pretty good at it. I also didn't shield her much from the consequences, altho I tried not to be unsympathetic. She's learned how to choose her friends wisely. Those she has are good ones.

Naturally this discussion is a bit much in reply to this question about a 9 year old reading Origin of the Species. I can confide that if you haven't read it, or if it's been a while, it's pretty hard going and if she can get thru it, she probably deserves to have the information she can glean from it.

I think I might acquire some of the back-up others have suggested in case she can't manage the "original text" in order that she may pursue her curiosity both now and later.

[Millie]

That's very thought-provoking. I have a similar policy with my dd, but I admit I'm closing my eyes at the thought of adolescence...

In the meantime, her social life is so active that we haven't made it to the library yet these holidays. She has another 2 weeks, so surely we'll get there soon?

[annie]

I agree about not censoring books - I was allowed a free run, and read books that I'm sure I would never be able to get through now - the young have a resilience to some things that seem terrible to adults. Admittedly I was brought up in gentler times, but my grandparents had a fair stock of Victorian thrillers (penny-dreadfuls) which would give some of today's teenage books a fair run with their lurid descriptions of awful murders and rapes. I certsinly read Dracula & Frankenstein before my teens. In my early teens I read books that were considered shocking like Lady Chatterley's Lover, Lolita, Tropic of Cancer, and Ulysses (none of which I can face reading in my fifties!)
However, the style of writing in Origin of Species is rather long-winded (rather than lurid!) and I think a 9 year old might get fed up and lose the thread, which is why I would make a simpler book available alongside. I did read OoS when I was about 15 and enjoyed it.