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Earth Before Us #3
Mammal Takeover!: Journey through the Cenozoic Era
Travel back in time to the Ice Age in this installment of the hit nonfiction graphic novel series about prehistoric Earth!
After the dinosaurs died out, Earth was by no means empty. There were still some little resourceful critters around who, without big predators to hunt them down, survived and thrived. Who were these scrappy creatures? Early mammals, our ancestors! In the Cenozoic Era, mammals rose to dominance and spread over the globe, resulting in woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and eventually all of humankind. In this adventure, readers will meet the three kinds of mammals—monotremes, marsupials, and placental mammals—as well as the other amazing ancient beasts they shared the Earth with during the Cenozoic Era. Travel along on this fascinating journey through time, from 66 million years ago to present day.
Want more adventures in prehistoric Earth? Check out the other books in the Earth Before Us Dinosaur Empire! and Ocean Renegades!
After the dinosaurs died out, Earth was by no means empty. There were still some little resourceful critters around who, without big predators to hunt them down, survived and thrived. Who were these scrappy creatures? Early mammals, our ancestors! In the Cenozoic Era, mammals rose to dominance and spread over the globe, resulting in woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and eventually all of humankind. In this adventure, readers will meet the three kinds of mammals—monotremes, marsupials, and placental mammals—as well as the other amazing ancient beasts they shared the Earth with during the Cenozoic Era. Travel along on this fascinating journey through time, from 66 million years ago to present day.
Want more adventures in prehistoric Earth? Check out the other books in the Earth Before Us Dinosaur Empire! and Ocean Renegades!
128 pages, Hardcover
First published September 17, 2019
7 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
Abby Howard
25 books91 followersAbby Howard grew up in North Carolina and has been drawing comics since age 13, spending her summers locked away in her room working on one project or another. She attended McGill University and studied Evolutionary Biology, but after being a contestant on the web reality show Strip Search, was able to follow her dreams of becoming a cartoonist, and ditched all that book learnin'.
She's worked as a full-time cartoonist for nearly a decade, publishing collections of both The Last Halloween and the now-retired Junior Scientist Power Hour webcomics as well as the educational book series, Earth Before Us. Iron Circus Comics has just published her first collection of short horror comics, The Crossroads At Midnight.
Abby recently made her debut in video games, having founded a game studio, Black Tabby Games, with her spouse Tony Howard-Arias. Together, they're working on Scarlet Hollow, an episodic horror game co-written and fully illustrated by Abby Howard.
She's worked as a full-time cartoonist for nearly a decade, publishing collections of both The Last Halloween and the now-retired Junior Scientist Power Hour webcomics as well as the educational book series, Earth Before Us. Iron Circus Comics has just published her first collection of short horror comics, The Crossroads At Midnight.
Abby recently made her debut in video games, having founded a game studio, Black Tabby Games, with her spouse Tony Howard-Arias. Together, they're working on Scarlet Hollow, an episodic horror game co-written and fully illustrated by Abby Howard.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 27, 2024
tfw the mammal book doesn't have right whales
December 23, 2019
A lovely end to a great series! If you like graphic novels, history, animals, or all of the above I would highly recommend reading these books! Again, going into this particular volume I had little to no knowledge of mammal evolution beyond mammoths at some point. Wow did I learn a lot!!! I also liked how the author tied in human evolution and mass extinctions near the end - and did a good job painting the sad picture our world is in right now with positivity on how humans, and specifically kids, can help!
August 1, 2025
The third and last book of the 'Earth Before Us' series takes us through the Cenozoic era. Somehow this is a less compelling read than Howard's earlier takes on the Paleozoic and Mesozoic. There's a less sense of wonder as the creatures are more and more starting to resemble contemporary fauna. In contrast to the earlier volumes surprisingly little attention goes to plants and insects, and it seems Howard takes less pride in drawing mammals than she did in drawing dinosaurs and other diapsids, or the earlier synapsids. Howard's take on human evolution is a little sloppy, and the book ends with a naturally rather depressing look on the current man-made mass extinction. One certainly has to tell this tale, but it's a sad ending to the wonderful journey Howard took us on in her three comic books.
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May 22, 2020Abby Howard’s final Earth Before Us book is jam packed with knowledge, research, awesome animals, and a reminder of what we’re fighting for in a world on the brink of climate destruction. Mammal Takeover! Is probably the best of all three Earth Before Us books, and I felt like I learned a lot more in this book because I could draw the connection to what animals we have now versus what animals were necessary to make them millions of years ago.
And boy, is there a lot I didn’t know. False saber-toothed cats, giant sloths, and ungulates, oh my! Abby Howard is quite adept at taking A GIGANTIC AMOUNT of information and condensing it down to a point where a kid could understand it, and then she just throws in a large handful of jokes to keep you going.
Perhaps the greatest improvement in this book as opposed to the others in the series is that it’s much more grounded. Howard transitions from human evolution to a discussion on climate change that puts a lot of the onus on corporations and governments rather than a person using the wrong light bulb. It’s good that us, as individuals, can enact change and become more energy self-sufficient, but we must also hold the organizations above us responsible for the extinction they’re causing on earth.
This is a book that I’ll proudly give my future child to read, and I think it deserves a place in any household whether or not you do have kids. There’s just a lot of cool information, jokes, and fantastic art in it that will keep you reading every last page.
And boy, is there a lot I didn’t know. False saber-toothed cats, giant sloths, and ungulates, oh my! Abby Howard is quite adept at taking A GIGANTIC AMOUNT of information and condensing it down to a point where a kid could understand it, and then she just throws in a large handful of jokes to keep you going.
Perhaps the greatest improvement in this book as opposed to the others in the series is that it’s much more grounded. Howard transitions from human evolution to a discussion on climate change that puts a lot of the onus on corporations and governments rather than a person using the wrong light bulb. It’s good that us, as individuals, can enact change and become more energy self-sufficient, but we must also hold the organizations above us responsible for the extinction they’re causing on earth.
This is a book that I’ll proudly give my future child to read, and I think it deserves a place in any household whether or not you do have kids. There’s just a lot of cool information, jokes, and fantastic art in it that will keep you reading every last page.
September 8, 2020
The main downside to this book is that in covering the last of the three main eras of life, there isn't really a way to continue the series that I can see. As with the previous books in the series, the strong points of this one are the humor, the great attention to detail and scientific accuracy, and the excellent illustrations (often adorable) of fantastic extinct animals.
However, I don't really have much that I take away from this book, besides appreciating it. Partly this is because I read it it a few months ago (I checked it out from the library right before the lockdown in March, but could have actually read it anytime between April and June; my date finished is a complete guess). And partly it is because I have already studied this period rather extensively and so am familiar with most of the broad strokes which are easiest to retain; of course, there are plenty of particular species highlighted that I am unfamiliar with (and this book could be a great starting point for researching particularly interesting animals), but otherwise not too much stands out to me. The one interesting fact that I retain is that pronghorns are actually relatives of giraffes; I feel like there may have been one or two other quirky tidbits like that when I first read it, but I don't recall now, sadly.
However, I don't really have much that I take away from this book, besides appreciating it. Partly this is because I read it it a few months ago (I checked it out from the library right before the lockdown in March, but could have actually read it anytime between April and June; my date finished is a complete guess). And partly it is because I have already studied this period rather extensively and so am familiar with most of the broad strokes which are easiest to retain; of course, there are plenty of particular species highlighted that I am unfamiliar with (and this book could be a great starting point for researching particularly interesting animals), but otherwise not too much stands out to me. The one interesting fact that I retain is that pronghorns are actually relatives of giraffes; I feel like there may have been one or two other quirky tidbits like that when I first read it, but I don't recall now, sadly.
January 31, 2020
Abby Howard's excellent Earth Before Us series concludes with a deep dive into the Cenozoic Era in all of its mammalian goodness. Get ready for giant sloths! And terror birds! And (news to me) why mammals produce milk! Spoiler alert: it's gross! I loved it!
The art continues to be great and the storytelling continues to be clever. Howard maybe pushes a little too far into "here's a list of critters" territory, but there's also a bit less to learn about since we're generally familiar with the idea of mammals. No need for a chapter on what the heck ctenophores are in Mammal Takeover!.
Howard pads the book just a tad with a follow-up deep dive into climate change and our current human-produced mass extinction. It's good information, particularly for kids who feel like the world is out of control, but boy howdy is it on the nose. There's an evil businessman and everything, scheming to keep his money as he pours poison into the air.
The art continues to be great and the storytelling continues to be clever. Howard maybe pushes a little too far into "here's a list of critters" territory, but there's also a bit less to learn about since we're generally familiar with the idea of mammals. No need for a chapter on what the heck ctenophores are in Mammal Takeover!.
Howard pads the book just a tad with a follow-up deep dive into climate change and our current human-produced mass extinction. It's good information, particularly for kids who feel like the world is out of control, but boy howdy is it on the nose. There's an evil businessman and everything, scheming to keep his money as he pours poison into the air.
January 15, 2020
This is the third in a three book graphic novel series. All are very good at helping kids understand evolution over time and how all the various animals (and plants) we now know came to be. This one also gives some helpful information about the sixth human-caused mass extinction that is happening now. Highly recommend for late elementary to early middle school children (and adults who like pictures and goofy humor with their info).
June 27, 2021
This is the third installment in the excellent "Earth Before Us" series (which I accidentally read out of order, but it doesn't really matter). This one follows the journey of young Ronnie with Miss Lernin on an expedition through the parts of evolutionary history closest to our time period. As usual, Howard has an engaging story patter while getting in a lot of information, and the drawings are perfect as always. An awesome book!
December 25, 2020
I want to read everything Abby Howard has written. Appropriate for evolution nerds of all ages!
April 26, 2022
This series just makes me so happy. I was the dinosaur kid growing up and this series left me super nostalgic and really informed. I learned a lot even now as a 24 year old! Highly recommend this series for fellow Dino lovers out there :)
June 20, 2020
In this third book of the Earth. before Us series, we journey to the Cenozoic Era. The graphic novel style text makes this fact filled book a fun read for budding young scientists.
April 13, 2021
Brilliant art, eminently educational, and very funny. I love this series. I love Abby Howard's art. I love knowing about all the mammal branches that didn't make it.
June 27, 2022
This little graphic novel trilogy was so much fun!
I also giggled at the shot of the "terror bird" at the end.
I also giggled at the shot of the "terror bird" at the end.
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October 6, 2025I don't think I'll look at modern-day animals the same way again!
May 20, 2023
90%
Really, really liked this book! The evolutionary tree at the end is wonderful, and I think would make a fantastic educational poster (hint, hint publisher).
I also appreciate that though the end covered the current mass extinction caused by humans, it wasn't all doom and gloom like many other books/movies/media/conversations tend to be. It left me with a little bit of hope for our beautiful Earth's future.
Really, really liked this book! The evolutionary tree at the end is wonderful, and I think would make a fantastic educational poster (hint, hint publisher).
I also appreciate that though the end covered the current mass extinction caused by humans, it wasn't all doom and gloom like many other books/movies/media/conversations tend to be. It left me with a little bit of hope for our beautiful Earth's future.
October 23, 2019
I loved this!! It’s the perfect balance of informative and funny, and the illustrations throughout are gorgeous.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews