Charles Darwin loved nature and first explained scientifically how species came to be. This is the story of a famous trip he took, sailing to South America and the Pacific on the ship Beagle, looking at all the amazing plants and animals and rocks. They made him think: Why did armadillos look so much like huge fossil skeletons? Why were there different finches and turtles on each island? How did seashells get up into the mountains?  These questions led him eventually to the idea of evolution, that species must change over time, and that all the kinds of modern animals evolved slowly from simpler ancient ancestors. This is a good book for finding out just what evolution really is, and how it works. It helps to follow along as Darwin puts together the puzzle from what he sees in nature, and it's also interesting to see  how differently his friend Captain Fitzhugh saw the same things.