How the Borks Became

by Jonathan Emmett, Elys Dolan (Illustrator)

Borks live on a planet quite like our own Earth. They have shaggy yellow fur and long thin necks. But once they had short blue fur and almost no necks at all. How could this happen? Well, it didn't come about all at once ... Jonathan Emmett tells a delightful story in verse about the Borks and all the things that happened to make them gradually look quite different, while still remaining Borks. And by the end of the story, the reader will have a very good notion of how Evolution by natural selection works.

Genres: Picture Books, Science, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published May 3, 2018

About the author

Jonathan Emmett was born in Leicestershire in 1965, the son of a factory fitter and a primary school teacher.

Jonathan loved books from an early age and some of his earliest memories are of visiting his local library. The picture books that he borrowed then, including Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss and Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson have had a great influence on the picture books that he now writes.

It was while Jonathan was at college, studying architecture, that he first started developing his own illustrated texts, illustrating poems and lyrics that he’d written. Pleased with the results, he found himself spending more and more time on writing and illustration. Although he qualified as an architect, he found the job unsatisfying and began pursuing a career in children's books in his spare time, eventually going full-time in 1995, a few months before his thirtieth birthday.

As well as writing picture books such as Bringing Down the Moon, Someone Bigger, Pigs Might Fly and Ruby Flew Too, Jonathan also writes and paper-engineers pop-up books. His books have won several awards including the Red House Children’s Book Award “Book for Younger Children” for Pigs Might Fly and the Kiekeboekprijs for Bringing Down the Moon.

He now lives in Nottingham with his wife, Rachel, and children, Max and Laura.

You can visit Jonathan’s website atjonathanemmett.com

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noah seemed to enjoy this one too, but at 2 and 3/4s I think the notion of evolution was somewhat lost on him!

[Tim Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A seussian tome about evolution. Bravo!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up at work after noticing the word 'Bork' (my nickname for my cat). And I stumbled onto an amazing find! An easy to understand, hilarious and devastating book about evolution! The illustrations of the little Borklings discovering they need fur, longer necks, camouflage... I'm dying. I love it.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clever little lesson on natural selection through a story of the borks. Love love love. It’s so difficult to find good children’s books but one that teaches too? Rare!

[Jo Oehrlein]

https://inventorsoftomorrow.com/2024/...

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

A witty book that uses hilarious illustrations and catchy rhyming to explain natural selection in an accessible way. Love it!