Second Is a Hiccup - Tapa dura

Booklist Sarred
Hutchins explains the lengths of various time units in original, child-centered terms. A Second is how long it takes to hiccup or "to kiss your mom/ Or jump a rope/ Or turn around." A minute is not just 60 seconds, it's also time enough for 60 hiccups, 60 hops, or a little song including the chorus and verses. And so on, through an hour, a day, a week, a month, and a year. Ingenious explanations include a month as the time it takes for a scraped shin to grow new skin and a year how long it takes to outgrow a pair of shoes. Often falling in to rhymed couplets, the fluid text reads aloud well. Few contemporary illustrators depict children with such understanding, grace, and quirky charm as Denton, whose previous picture books include Claire Masurel's Two Homes (2001) and Nan Gregory's Amber Waiting (2002). Here the diverse cast of characters centers on three children who intersect with each other, their parents, and their siblings as they participate in a year's worth of activities. Washed with gentle colors, the sensitive drawings portray children who are secure, actively engaged, and sometimes even joyful within their community of family and friends. The first American edition of a Canadian picture book, this is a worthy companion to Zolotow's equally child-centered classic Over and Over (1957) and fresh new take on the passage of time.
"Hutchins explains the lengths of various time units in original, child-centered terms. A Second is how long it takes to hiccup or "to kiss your mom/ Or jump a rope/ Or turn around." A minute is not just 60 seconds, it's also time enough for 60 hiccups, 60 hops, or a little song including the chorus and verses. And so on, through an hour, a day, a week, a month, and a year. Ingenious explanations include a month as the time it takes for a scraped shin to grow new skin and a year how long it takes to outgrow a pair of shoes. Often falling in to rhymed couplets, the fluid text reads aloud well. Few contemporary illustrators depict children with such understanding, grace, and quirky charm as Denton, whose previous picture books include Claire Masurel's Two Homes (2001) and Nan Gregory's Amber Waiting (2002). Here the diverse cast of characters centers on three children who intersect with each other, their parents, and their siblings as they participate in a year's worth of activities. Washed with gentle colors, the sensitive drawings portray children who are secure, actively engaged, and sometimes even joyful within their community of family and friends. The first American edition of a Canadian picture book, this is a worthy companion to Zolotow's equally child-centered classic Over and Over (1957) and fresh new take on the passage of time." -- Booklist

Provides an examination of the concept of time through amusing verse and bright illustrations that highlight the differences between quantities of time throughout a life.