Margaret Wise Brown once wrote that children wondered about “mysterious clock time.” I certainly did as a child. I simply could not learn to tell time. This was back in the dark ages of analog clocks that seemed to hold secrets others could decipher but eluded me. I could have used any of the books on this list, but one in particular is perfect.
Time surged in importance at the end of the old century. We were nervous about what would happen to our computers (remember Y2K?). The coming millennium weighed as heavily as a tipped-over grandfather clock. But when January 1, 2000, tripped over, we sailed into the new century. Here is a list of children’s books about time from 1999 to 2019.
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The Story of Clocks and Calendars: Marking a Millennium A sticker on the cover announces, The Book for the Year 2000. The book asks the question, “How can it be the year 2000?” and then describes what a year is. A voyage through time covers the time markers like Stonehenge, the constellations, and calendars adopted by different cultures, finishing up with the history of clocks. |
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What Time Is It, Mr. Crocodile? Mr. Crocodile plans his day from waking up at 9:00 a.m. to singing a lullaby to himself at 8:00 p.m. His biggest goal is to catch, cook, and eat five pesky monkeys that derail his day. His best-laid schedule is knocked hilariously awry in this rhyming picture book. |
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The Clock Struck One A rambunctious take on the familiar nursery rhyme has the mouse running up the clock. But he’s followed by a cat craving mouse-tail tea. Soon a barnyard of animals joins the chase that spills from the house all the way into town. Sharp-eyed readers can spot various types of clocks throughout the story. Analog and digital clocks are reviewed in the back matter. |
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About Time: A First Look at Time and Clocks Time-keeping through the ages covering amazing early locks like water clocks, shadow clocks, oil clocks, turret clocks, medieval alarm clocks, up through modern time pieces. The concept of time is explained through solar and lunar cycles. |
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The House with a Clock in Its Walls The first Lewis Barnavelt book was published in 1973, reissued in 2004 in advance of the 2018 movie. Lewis lives with his magician uncle, who lives next door to Mrs. Zimmerman, also a magician. Dabbling in magic himself, Lewis inadvertently calls up the former owner of the house, who built a doomsday clock into the walls. Read the book, forget the movie. |
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The Invention of Hugo Cabret An orphan boy keeps the clocks running in a Paris train station. His secret life behind the walls is interrupted by a strange girl and an old man who also occupy the train station. Read the elegant book, then watch the equally-elegant movie. |
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Time Is When Originally published in 1960, Time Is When was reissued with new illustrations in 2004. This picture book tackles the concept of “from before to now; from now to later.” A delightfully diverse cast parades through seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years in Jocelyn’s paper and fabric collages.
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Just a Second: A Different Way to Look at Time Simple backgrounds showcase Jenkins’ collage art paired with little-known facts based on units of time. Did you know a bat can make 200 high-pitched calls in a second? The sun travels half a million miles in one hour? Global warming causes seas to rise an eighth of an inch a year? Factoid fans will devour this book. The science will astonish them … and make them think. |
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The Noisy Clock Shop Part of G‑D Vintage, this book first appeared in 1950, revive in a larger format. Mr. Winky repairs clocks. When a visiting friend says his shop is too noisy, Mr. Winky searches for a quiet place. Not the city, not the train, not the farm, not even the woods. The only place Mr. Winky feels at home is his cheerful, tocking clock shop. |
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The Secret Keepers Reuben is thrilled when he finds an antique watch that, oddly, needs to be wound every fifteen minutes. Then he discovers its secret, life-changing powers. Then he finds himself up against The Smoke, a devious villain. Watchmaker Mrs. Genevieve and a girl from the past try to help Reuben, but his new-found powers are more than he can handle. |
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Fix That Clock A derelict clock tower is home to bats, owls, pigeons and mice. Then a determined crew steps in to rebuild the tower and get the clock working again. Brisk rhyme packed with construction sounds prod readers to follow the remodeling … and the ousted animals. Wood scraps inspire unique condos in a surprise ending. |
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Telling Time Four astronaut kids, two robots, and one Martian spend a day in space. Each stage of their trip explains seconds, minutes, hours, A.M. and P.M., noon and midnight, digital and analog clocks, time zones, military time, and — most important—how to tell time. This is the book I needed when I was a kid. Learning to tell time has never been so much fun, and so easy to understand. |
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Crossing on Time: While Macaulay’s book is about ships, mainly the one that brought him to the United States, it’s also about time. The time it took people to cross the Atlantic until the invention of the steam engine. The time it took William Francis Gibb to design and build the SS United States. The time it took the Macaulay family to come from England to New York on that ship. Filled with Macaulay’s trademark diagrams and intricate detail, this is also a touching story about a boy who wanted to see the Empire State Building — and all that it stood for — more than anything. |