Out of the Blue

<b>Graceful succinct prose and engaging illustrations trace the evolution of life on Earth out of the blue and back again.</b> <p/>Clear and inviting nonfiction prose vetted by scientists--together with lively illustrations and a time line--narrate how life on Earth emerged out of the blue. It began in the vast empty sea when Earth was young. Single-celled microbes too small to see held the promise of all life-forms to come. Those microbes survived billions of years in restless seas until they began to change to convert sunlight into energy to produce oxygen until one day--<i>Gulp!</i>--one cell swallowed another and the race was on. Learn how and why creatures began to emerge from the deep--from the Cambrian Explosion to crustaceans mollusks to fishes giant reptiles to the rise of mammals--and how they compare to the animals we know today in a lively and accessible outing into the prehistoric past that boils a complex subject down to its lyrical essence.