Beautiful Beasts by Camilla de le Bédoyère (QED Publishing)

There seems to be a huge surge in the publication of fantastic non-fiction books about animals. In the last year or so we've seen some brilliant books concentrating on species we know, and even some mythical ones we don't. But how about an utterly fantastic book that traces the genesis of many of the animal species that still roam the earth today?

"Beautiful Beasts" mixes together the ancient and the modern, providing a luxurious and sumptuous fully illustrated look at how certain animal classes and 'families' evolved often from common ancestors to become the animals we're more familiar with in the here and now.

Camilla's enthusiasm shines through as we see how the first single-celled creatures evolved into more complex beasts, emerging from ancient seas to eventually stalk the land. Evolving further still as the first primitive mammals and birds emerged, and the first apes swung through the trees before standing upright and turning into...us!

Charlotte was completely enthralled by this, and relished the challenge of pronouncing some of those weird old names for some of the ancient creatures nestling between the pages of this weighty tome.

An utterly brilliant addition to our burgeoning bestiary! "Beautiful Beasts" is out today, from QED Publishing.

Charlotte's best bit: Charlotte was completely fascinated by the evolution of horses from Eohippus onwards.

Daddy's Favourite bit: A really fantastic bestiary to join the ranks of the amazing creature books that are currently storming into bookstores. Not to be missed!

(Kindly sent to us for review by QED Publishing)