Virginia Lee Burton: Life Story

Written and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton

Life Story was the last picture book Jinnee produced, one she worked on for eight years.  Published in 1962, it was set within the framework of a theater and portrayed the sweeping arc of evolution and history. Beginning with the birth of the sun, it brilliantly chronicles the evolution through the primordial ocean, the dinosaurs, the ice age, and up to present day.  The book ends with:

And now it is your Life Story

and it is you who plays the leading role.

The stage is set, the time is now, and the place wherever you are.

Each passing second is a new link in the endless chain of tine.

The drama of Life is a continuous story-ever new,

ever changing, and ever wondrous to behold.

The book was met with critical acclaim and a party was held at the Boston Museum of Science.   The studies below were displayed in storefronts along Fifth Avenue in New York City.