Announcing Grandmother Fish

Mockup of my upcoming children's book

My next creative project, coming this summer, is Grandmother Fish, a book for young children about evolution. It’s a picture book that follows the descent of humans and other vertebrates from early fish to today. It’s based on hard scientific knowledge, but it’s a child-friendly story with fun motions and sounds.

People react positively when I mention this book. They smile, their eyes light up, and often they volunteer that it sounds like a worthy project. Two fathers have even told me that they’ve had plans to write just such a book themselves. These reactions suggest to me that people want to see a book like this. That’s why I’m doing it. Granted, I live in Seattle, where people think warmly of evolution. This book might not do well in Texas.

The original idea for this book came to me 15 years ago when my daughter was young, and I worked to explain where we came from. For years, I've tinkered with the manuscript, and last year I added motions and sounds to the book. Those fun elements make the book a lot more engaging for young children.

I wanted my daughter to know how we evolved because knowing where we came from tells us something fundamental about who we are. Parents have been doing the same thing for ages. My Scandinavian ancestors taught their children that the gods had formed the first people from trees, and the ancient Hebrews said their god had created the first man from clay and the first woman from his rib. These stories have the advantage that they make sense to children. Today, any parent who believes in the Garden of Eden can find multiple books for young children that tell the story, complete with child-friendly illustrations. Parents who want to teach their children about evolution deserve books of their own.

Parents need help teaching their children about evolution because gradual change over millions of years doesn’t make much sense to the human brain. Our early human ancestors evolved brains that love stories, especially stories about people taking actions to reach their short-term goals. Mythical creation stories follow this intuitive pattern, teaching that humans and other animals were created intentionally and quickly by the gods. Evolution, however, operates without intention and on a time scale that beggars the imagination. Because evolution doesn't work like a story, traditional creation stories still appeal strongly to many people. Grandmother Fish is as simple as any creation story. The goal is to help children see for themselves how we are directly related to other animals.

Evolution is a story worth telling because it’s more than scientific fact. It’s also a profound lesson about our place in the cosmos. Traditional creation stories set humans apart from, above, and beyond the rest of the animal kingdom.  The story of evolution corrects this self-centered view. Evolution affirms our intimate connection to the world of living things, down to our flesh and blood. It’s a message that the world could use more of. As Neil deGrasse Tyson says, “Accepting our kinship with all life on Earth is not only solid science. In my view, it’s also a soaring spiritual experience.”

This summer, I’ll be launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for Grandmother Fish, and I hope you’ll back it and share the news. In the meantime, I’m finding an artist to partner with, planning the practical job of publishing a book, and lining up help from people who could help promote the project. Thanks to my decades of work in the roleplaying game field, I know plenty of professionals who can help me with art, publishing, and promotion.

If you like the sound of this project and would like to help, there are a few ways you could pitch in right now.

1. Read a draft version of the book to children and give me feedback on what works best and what doesn’t.

2. Introduce me to any scientists or organizations that might support the project.

3. Share this blog post. Talk to your friends about the book. Over the next couple months, think of people you know who might be interested in the campaign when it starts.

Thanks for your interest.