Grow: Secrets of Our DNA

The secrets of DNA, unpacked engagingly and accessibly.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Davies and Sutton reunite to offer another finely crafted exploration of a fundamental science concept: this time, how and why things grow. Davies’s thoughtful prose spirals from simplicity—“All living things grow”—through accessible complexities, showing the range and diversity of growing things, from sunfish and bristlecone pines to human beings…Sutton’s intimate watercolor illustrations riot with rich details, including caterpillars wiggling on cabbages, a loose typology of human noses, and the ribbonlike helices of twining DNA.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Veteran science author Davies (Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth, rev. 11/17) introduces DNA to a young audience…Sutton’s watercolor illustrations are particularly strong when depicting growth, showing that some living things grow quickly while others grow slowly, and some become large while others grow into small flora or fauna.
—The Horn Book

In a series of framed pictures painted in watercolor, readers will trace the development of a human being from ‘a tiny blob’ on an ultrasound through her infancy and youth and beyond, until she is expecting a baby of her own…This inviting book should leave children ages 6-10 both awed and informed.
—The Wall Street Journal