The Clock Struck One: A Time-telling Tale (Math Is Fun!)
PreSchool-Grade 2—A playful expansion of "Hickory, Dickory Dock," this picture book centers around the concept of a cat chasing a mouse through the hours of a day. "Hickory dickory doo, the grandfather clock struck TWO./It woke the cat, who sprang from his mat,/hungry for mouse-tail stew," and the race is on. Some of the rhyming verses are awkwardly constructed ("Hickory dickory date,/at EIGHT, they ran through the gate./The farmer's son/said, 'That looks fun./I'm coming too. So wait!'"). Expressive mixed-media illustrations display a gleeful mouse swinging on the clock chimes while a sleepy feline dozes on a nearby rug, and then highlight the ensuing chaos as other animals and people join the pursuit. The ending shows a very tired mouse and cat catching their breath as the clock strikes one in the morning. A thoughtful afterword offers a two-page explanation about the difference between digital and analog clocks and how to tell time, and challenges readers to find the various clocks featured in the illustrations (e.g., a cuckoo clock, a pocket watch, and a digital stove clock). Keith Baker'sHickory Dickory Dock(Harcourt, 2007) is a better constructed albeit calmer rendition of the nursery rhyme.—Kirsten Cutler, Sonoma County Library, CAEND