One Tiny Bubble: The Story of Our Last Universal Common Ancestor

"For fans of You Are Stardust and When Planet Earth Was New, ONE TINY BUBBLE is a wondrous and accessible introduction to the idea that every living organism on planet Earth shares the same origin. Imagine: Plant, insect, mammal--we developed from the same basic ingredients. We all evolved from LUCA, which stands for our Last Universal Common Ancestor. ONE TINY BUBBLE distills this large and complex concept into something kids can easily grasp and ponder. Karen Krossing's light, lively and very accessible text begins long, long ago, when the earth was an unfriendly place. Miraculously, out the dust of exploded stars that mixes with water to form a muddy soup and a lot of heat, LUCA bubbled to life. "LUCA was a squishy blob with no legs or arms. No eyes or mouth. Tinier than a cupcake sprinkle, it triggered mighty changes on our planet." A single cell, it then "split into two beings. Two became more and even more, each growing and some changing." Over the billions of years that followed, the descendants of those simple beings evolved, until eventually "your great-grandparents, your grandparents, your parents, and now ... you" became part of this LUCA family, the oldest family on Earth. And in wonderful twist, the story doesn't really end as Karen projects this idea out onto the stars, reminding readers of their connection to this "miracle that could be repeated on another world." Karen has included an equally accessible and well-written endnote "About LUCA," which provides readers with a more scientific explanation and context, and a glossary defines some terms used in the text."--]cProvided by publisher.