This book is about the tortoises that used to live on the Galapagos Islands beginning with Giantess George. The book tells the story of Giantess George who is displaced to a new home and learns to adapt and evolve to her new environment. From the changes she makes, her descendants take on different traits like longer necks and different shaped shells. Her descendants live on the islands for a hundred years until people come and eat them. The last tortoise is protected in a zoo until it dies in 2012. Scientists learned so much about the past from this tortoise.
I would recommend this book for 2-4 grade. This book goes hand and hand with any curriculum covering evolution. You could also use this book when talking about how species adapt to new environments. ( )

Acclaimed children's author Jean Craighead George, who won the Newbery Medal for her 1972 novel, Julie of the Wolves, and who is known for (amongst other things) her excellent works of picture-book natural history, turns to the subject of the giant tortoises of the Galápagos Islands in this informative and ultimately moving picture-book. Beginning one million years ago, she describes how a great flood brought tortoises to the islands off the west coast of South America, and how and why they likely evolved into the diverse species eventually found by European explorers. She also describes how many of these species came to be extinct, and concludes with the story of Lonesome George, the last of the Pinta Island tortoises, who died in 2012...

Published posthumously in 2013 - like the eponymous tortoise, George the author died in 2012 - Galápagos George offers a fascinating and poignant glimpse of the evolution and extinction of a species. I didn't expect to finish the story with a lump in my throat, but that's exactly the state I was in, as I read about Lonesome George withdrawing for the last time into his shell. The accompanying watercolor artwork from the prolific and talented Wendell Minor, who has illustrated many of the author's other titles, from The Wolves Are Back to The Last Polar Bear, is beautiful, and perfectly captures the majesty, mystery and allure of these wonderful creatures. An informative afterword gives a list of terms, a timeline, and a list of further sources, both print and online. All in all, a wonderful book, one I would recommend to all young nature lovers, as well as to anyone looking for picture-books that describe the (likely) process of the evolution of the Galápagos tortoises. ( )

I liked the book because it helped introduce evolution to my children and we got to talk about it for awhile. I was surprised how much my kids enjoyed it even though they couldn't quite follow the timeline and distances.

Pros: There is a lot to explore in Galapagos George: evolution, extinction of dinosaurs and other species, as well as global warming, ecology, and rising oceans. There is plenty to interest children.

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Nice illustrations, muddled narrative. I couldn't muster enough interest to check it out. ( )

A posthumous work from the late, great Jean Craighead George telling the story of Lonesome George, the giant tortoise and last of his species who lived for 100 years. George also manages to introduce readers to evolution and leaves them with a poignant message about extinction and the need for conservation. Handsomely illustrated by the always reliable Wendell Minor. ( )