Clocks and More Clocks

I wonder. At what age will most children be able to see the flaw in Mr. Higgins' reasoning? Obvious to me, of course... but I still found the book funny! And not just for the old fashions!

In this picture book by Pat Hutchins, Mr. Higgins finds a clock in his attic and then to make sure the time is right, he checks another clock in another room, which, by the time he gets to the other room, is a minute ahead. He buys a third clock and the same thing happens. Finally, the clockmaker comes over to his house and checks each clock against the time on his watch and all are correct. Mr. Higgins then buys a watch and has no more trouble. This is a funny look at keeping track of time and concepts of before and after. It does require explanation on the part of the adult reading it for younger readers. The language is economic and clear. The illustrations help create meaning. We can see the time on the clocks. When moving from room show more to room, we see a dollhouse-like cut out of the house. Each room is on a different floor, so it's easy to see how it could take a minute to look at another clock. There is nice character detail as Mr. Higgins adjusts his glasses to convey his confusion about the time on the clock. The illustrations, however, are not eye-grabbing. They are somewhat monochromatic with the yellow and the yellow-green and the yellow-orange. This would be appropriate for ages 3 to 6. show less

A man believes that his clocks are incorrect and so he keeps buying more, each a little more off (or so it seems...) than the last. Good introduction of the concept that time passes, but the story may be too sophisticated for some younger children.

Clocks and more clocks is about a man who buys many clocks because he is not sure which one is right. He places the clocks in different rooms of the house and walks into a different room realizing that the clocks do not have the same time. This is a good book for children to learn about time. Also children can draw conclusions on why the man assumes his clocks do not work.

A story about a man who thinks his clock is off so he spends time buying more clocks, but when he gets them they become different times. An interesting book to teach the concept of time.

Ages 5-8
Source: Pierce County Library System

a man has a bunch of clocks around his house and he thinks they are all wrong. he gets the clockmaker to check all his clocks but they are all correct. it just took him the time to go around the house.
1 book

This book is all about clocks and how they work to tell time.