This new book from Mini Grey has completely blown my mind.
The Greatest Show on Earth is a unique new look at the birth of Earth. We, the human readers, are invited to take a seat in the auditorium and watch the story of Earth unfold.
Rod the Roach is our host supported by his performers and backstage crew. The Greatest Show On Earth takes place in a shoe box theatre. The main story plays out on the stage, in The Wings we are given more information about the story in perfectly pitched bite sized chunks. In the Orchestra Pit we have the Tape Measure of Time managed and displayed by the Time Team.
There is SO much to LOVE about this book.
We LOVE prehistory in our house. We adore learning about The Big Bang and what happened to our planet at the beginning of its life. We have never before seen it presented in such a whacky creative way as this. It works, it really works as an utterly amazing way to engage, inform and inspire young readers, and their grown ups too!
The cast of insects tell the biggest story ever told with the help of puppetry, collage, shadow play, recycled rubbish puppets, food, microscopic light shows and projections. It is so clever and much of the tricks and techniques, props and prompts used by the minibeasts children could try using in their own presentations or storytelling. You could have some great fun after reading this book with a bunch of creative thinking kids.
The Greatest Show On Earth begins at the very beginning when Earth was hot, bothered and bursting with lava. We are welcomed to The World of Microbes. We witness The Rise of the Continents. We wobble through the Age of Jelly (Precambrian) before being shaken by The Cambrian Explosion.
We enter The Age of Fish and learn about Earth when plants explored the land.
We see The Age Of Massive Insects, the Age Of Amphibians, the Rise Of The Reptiles and then … Jurassic Spark! The Time Of The Dinosaurs!
There is so much information in this book. It is literally packed with facts. They are presented in a fun way and the humour helps to hook in the minds and imaginations of little readers, they are so immersed in every page as they pore over the information on every spread. My children aged 5 to almost 12 all adore this book and have taken so much from it already. It is definitely one that we will return to time and time again.
This would be a wonderful resource for classrooms and for home educators. There is so much to unpack and explore. My children are keen to make their own Tape Measure of Time. I think we will begin by mapping out this book on our own mini timeline, using the Time Team in the Orchestra Pit as our guide. Then we might make a mini timeline of our lives and then work together to make one for the reign of the Queen and / or for the life of David Attenborough so far. So many possibilities inspired by this brilliant book. We are definitely going to make a shadow puppet theatre and act out some of our favourite moments from history.
After the dinosaurs we move on to the start of the Rise of the Mammals before learning about the Age Of Ice. We then see the Moment Of People and the huge impact we have made on Earth in our moment of time.
Readers are asked to think about Earth’s possible futures and how we as human’s have choices and changes to make that will affect the course. I share the hope of Rod the Roach and his supporting cast of ants and other insects, that future humans will live in balance with everyone and everything else on our beautiful planet.
The story of life on Earth is only halfway through, the show will go on.
What will the future hold for Planet Earth?
Its history is incredible. Amazing. It is The Great Show On Earth.
