Evolution Book For Kids Rejected By U.S. Publishers

An award winning kids book about evolution was turned down by several American publishers because it was too controversial, according to the book's author.

"Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be" has just won the Lane Anderson award as the best science book for young readers in Canada, but author Daniel Loxton couldn't get American publishers to bite.

"I had more than one publishing professional in the U.S. indicate to me that, because of the potential for controversy, it would be hard to make the numbers work," Loxton told The Huffington Post. "They said it was a tough sell."

Loxton pointed out that various surveys tend to show that large percentages of the US population don't believe in evolution.

The author also said he's confident that, if he had kept knocking on doors, someone in America would have given his book the green light.

"We would undoubtably have found a publisher in the U.S. if we looked long enough," Loxton said. "It did, however, seem to be a widespread sentiment that the potential for controversy made a book on this topic for children a risky investment for large children's book publishers."

The book, published by Kids Can Press in Canada, is selling well. At the time this post was published, the book was ranked 1,045 in Amazon books.

The National Science Teachers Association his book fills a need.

"This book complies with the ideas set forth about evolution by the National Science Education Standards and fills a gap in books about evolution for this age group," the association said in a statement.

You can buy the book here.

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