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Around the Clock
This wacky romp from New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast includes entertaining antics for every hour, on the hour. Counting time has never been so fun!
From 12 to 1, Lynn eats baloney
With her imaginary friend, Tony.
From 1 to 2, in his fanciest pants,
Don is digging a hole to France.
Do you ever wonder what your friends, enemies, brothers, sisters, and children are doing in the hours when you’re not there? This kooky twenty-four-hour tour of a day in the life of twenty-three different children will reveal answers from the absurd…to the hilarious…to the absurdly hilarious!
Beloved New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast is at her finest in this picture book brimming with her trademark stamp of zany humor.
From 12 to 1, Lynn eats baloney
With her imaginary friend, Tony.
From 1 to 2, in his fanciest pants,
Don is digging a hole to France.
Do you ever wonder what your friends, enemies, brothers, sisters, and children are doing in the hours when you’re not there? This kooky twenty-four-hour tour of a day in the life of twenty-three different children will reveal answers from the absurd…to the hilarious…to the absurdly hilarious!
Beloved New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast is at her finest in this picture book brimming with her trademark stamp of zany humor.
32 pages, Paperback
First published October 29, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
August 29, 2015
Kids will love these demented looking drawings. I think they're ugly, but children will love them. Chast describes the nutty and weird things children are doing at each hour of the day.
From 12 to 1, Lynn eats baloney
with her imaginary friend, Tony.
"Gee, Tony! Your lunch looks DELICIOUS as usual!" Lynn can be seen exclaiming, drawing the attention and worried glances of everyone in the lunchroom.
Chast also doesn't shy away from The Gross, as when
From 8 to 9, please observe Ricky:
Why does his toothpaste taste so icky?
And readers can see that he's mistaken a tube of suntan lotion for toothpaste.
The only drawback I have (besides my complaint about the ugly-as-sin illustrations) is that the children and adults are indistinguishable. Chast often has this problem - all her drawings of children look exactly like adults.
But overall children find this book hilarious and fun. Adults might recognize Chast as the famous New Yorker cartoonist.
Not available in Spanish.
From 12 to 1, Lynn eats baloney
with her imaginary friend, Tony.
"Gee, Tony! Your lunch looks DELICIOUS as usual!" Lynn can be seen exclaiming, drawing the attention and worried glances of everyone in the lunchroom.
Chast also doesn't shy away from The Gross, as when
From 8 to 9, please observe Ricky:
Why does his toothpaste taste so icky?
And readers can see that he's mistaken a tube of suntan lotion for toothpaste.
The only drawback I have (besides my complaint about the ugly-as-sin illustrations) is that the children and adults are indistinguishable. Chast often has this problem - all her drawings of children look exactly like adults.
But overall children find this book hilarious and fun. Adults might recognize Chast as the famous New Yorker cartoonist.
Not available in Spanish.
May 10, 2015
Review originally posted on Children's Atheneum
I originally picked up this book because I love Roz Chast's illustrations. I think I fell in love with her completely when I picked up a copy of Cold Comfort Farm with her illustrations on the cover. (Someone has my copy of this book by the way and I want it back) That said, this book was a bit of a disappointment. Although her illustrations are there with their usual playful pizazz, the story itself was lacking. The poems were rudimentary and boring. There was no throughline or shtick that made the story feel circular, like a clock. We weren't following one family or making our way around the world. It was just very random things happening at times that may or may not be random. I still love Roz Chast, but I don't think this is one of her best.
I originally picked up this book because I love Roz Chast's illustrations. I think I fell in love with her completely when I picked up a copy of Cold Comfort Farm with her illustrations on the cover. (Someone has my copy of this book by the way and I want it back) That said, this book was a bit of a disappointment. Although her illustrations are there with their usual playful pizazz, the story itself was lacking. The poems were rudimentary and boring. There was no throughline or shtick that made the story feel circular, like a clock. We weren't following one family or making our way around the world. It was just very random things happening at times that may or may not be random. I still love Roz Chast, but I don't think this is one of her best.
February 3, 2015
Horrible. Find a different book to teach about time. The rhymes are forced, the kids look the same as the adults, the pictures are too messy. Now I have to go give all my other one star books at least two stars.
February 10, 2015
Scary, weird illustrations! Not for little ones!!
The wacky humor may interest some older elementary readers but I found this book too weird for me.
The wacky humor may interest some older elementary readers but I found this book too weird for me.
February 18, 2015
I'm not certain who or what the intended audience really is for this.
September 13, 2019
Cute little Edward Gorey-like rhymes about odd kids doing odd things, one for each hour of the day and night, combined with Roz Chast's inimitable art. The words are simple, but you - I mean kids - could spend a lot of time looking at the hilarious details of the drawings.
July 10, 2015
I became a fan of Roz Chast after reading her memoir, Can we Talk about Something more Pleasant? Her illustrations are an acquired taste I think; parts scary, weird, and odd.
This book seems geared toward children, but I think it is a narrow audience, maybe kids in the 10-12 age range with mature, offbeat senses of humor. The book is an around the clock rhyme, each one hour span represented by a different person. Not for young children learning to tell time. Weirdly funny and not for everyone, but it did tickle my funny bone a little.
This book seems geared toward children, but I think it is a narrow audience, maybe kids in the 10-12 age range with mature, offbeat senses of humor. The book is an around the clock rhyme, each one hour span represented by a different person. Not for young children learning to tell time. Weirdly funny and not for everyone, but it did tickle my funny bone a little.
January 30, 2016
Kids may find humor in this story in verse with cartoon-like characters. There is a page for each hour with a different friend doing something strange at that particular hour of the day or night. There is a LOT going on in the illustrations, so it's best read on the couch or in bed with plenty of time to observe and discuss all the pictures. The humor is definitely aimed at the kids and some will likely resonate!
March 12, 2015
As a children's book it is not very good. The "children" look like adults, which threw me off right away. Also the rhymes were bad. It's not a great time telling book so I couldn't even use it for that. It reads and looks more like an adult book.
March 11, 2017
After my daughter who is 5 years old has taken this book 7 times checked out from the local library. I decide it was time to leave a review. She loves the rhyming and think the drawings are fantastic. She also gets a kick out of the speech and thinking bubbles.
January 12, 2015
Silly rhyming romp.
January 13, 2015
Great pictures and quite funny.
January 18, 2015
Something about this book just didn't work for me.
August 25, 2015
Written and illustrated by renown New Yorker cartoonist; the illustrations make more sense if you know this tidbit. Great couplets!
March 16, 2017
Everyone seems a little unhinged - but not in a funny way...more of the unsafe variety.
May 27, 2015
Rhymes about what people are doing 24 hours around the clock. Ok read; sometimes stilted rhymes.
April 16, 2016
This fun and imaginative book provides an hourly tour, in rhyme, of what happens during the day of twenty-three very kooky, yet very typical, children.
For example, Chast writes:
"From 6 to 7,
Pete is up,
drinking from
his favorite cup.”
What’s hilarious though is the picture that accompanies this short verse. Chast uses ink-and-watercolor cartoon illustrations throughout the book to augment the text. Pete has pretty much destroyed the kitchen while his apparently still-sleeping parents have no idea what he is doing.
Then there is another scene cringingly familiar to many parents:
"From 3 to 4,
in the grocery store,
Ann throws a tantrum
on the floor.”
Again, the picture is a riot, showing other people scowling or laughing or just happy it is someone else’s child and not theirs.
Kids will laugh out loud at many of the rhymes:
"From 7 to 8
is bath time for Shelley.
If you don’t take a bath,
you will get very smelly.”
The picture contains very funny thought balloons about the smells.
Evaluation: Roz Chast, both author and illustrator, is the beloved staff cartoonist for the “New Yorker,” and also the author/illustrator of a number of books for children. Her children tend not to be well-behaved role models, nor do they learn any lessons in the short time we spend with them in books, but they are as realistic as can be, and will delight and divert readers of all ages. The grown-ups are also very amusing and believable (read: not perfect), rather than the endlessly patient, loving parents we usually see in picture books for kids.
Once again as with Chast's previous books, some reviewers deplored these aspects of Chast’s books. Some even complained the pictures were “scary.” Really? Did they never read Maurice Sendak?
For example, Chast writes:
"From 6 to 7,
Pete is up,
drinking from
his favorite cup.”
What’s hilarious though is the picture that accompanies this short verse. Chast uses ink-and-watercolor cartoon illustrations throughout the book to augment the text. Pete has pretty much destroyed the kitchen while his apparently still-sleeping parents have no idea what he is doing.
Then there is another scene cringingly familiar to many parents:
"From 3 to 4,
in the grocery store,
Ann throws a tantrum
on the floor.”
Again, the picture is a riot, showing other people scowling or laughing or just happy it is someone else’s child and not theirs.
Kids will laugh out loud at many of the rhymes:
"From 7 to 8
is bath time for Shelley.
If you don’t take a bath,
you will get very smelly.”
The picture contains very funny thought balloons about the smells.
Evaluation: Roz Chast, both author and illustrator, is the beloved staff cartoonist for the “New Yorker,” and also the author/illustrator of a number of books for children. Her children tend not to be well-behaved role models, nor do they learn any lessons in the short time we spend with them in books, but they are as realistic as can be, and will delight and divert readers of all ages. The grown-ups are also very amusing and believable (read: not perfect), rather than the endlessly patient, loving parents we usually see in picture books for kids.
Once again as with Chast's previous books, some reviewers deplored these aspects of Chast’s books. Some even complained the pictures were “scary.” Really? Did they never read Maurice Sendak?
October 28, 2015
Not her best work--Chast mostly writes and draws for adult audiences, and this is supposed to be for children. Still, it is a pleasure to read a children's book that doesn't try to teach anything or build reading skills or provide moral guidance. It's just for fun.
January 20, 2016
Fun little rhyme about what some kids are doing at certain times of the day.
Fun illustrations.
Fun illustrations.
Read
July 25, 2016Mama read this to me the other day.
August 24, 2016
Funny illustrations, wacky rhymes. My oldest daughter laughed out loud.
January 20, 2017
man, if you suffer from insomnia this book might make it more difficult to fall asleep. It's odd. But I will read it for preschool storytime.
July 21, 2015
I like to read off-kilter books to my kids, but this was just blah.
May 12, 2017
Fun for kids. The pictures will fascinate them - the details add to the story behind each cartoon. Each hour has a rhyme, it will introduce kids to the time concept of a period between 2 hours, there's lots of nonsense, dinosaurs, and silliness.
February 23, 2018
While I love Chast's drawings, this definitely is an odd book. It doesn't seem great for kids, at least from a (/this) parent's perspective, and as an adult reader, I found it kind of off-putting as well.
March 3, 2018
A full 24 hours is described hour by hour. A different person is doing something silly each hour. Children will enjoy carefully studying each picture to find the funny inaccuracies; such as a saw and scissors at the dining table.
October 23, 2017
This was hilarious! Roz has such a good imagination.
February 12, 2018
A thin book about what people do at certain times of the day.
ha ha
ha ha
February 15, 2018
didn't get it
June 25, 2018
Short kids' book. So-so
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews