Monkey time by Michael Hall

cover image

Greenwillow Books, 2019. ISBN: 9780062383020. 48pp., hbk.
Monkey is trying to catch time.
Up, down, and all around Monkey goes.
Can Monkey catch a minute
Can you?

From the creator of both Little i and Red, a crayon's story comes a new story that explores time, this time. Asleep in a tree with branches remarkably like a clock face, Monkey is taunted by Minute who challenges him to catch him as he races around the 'clock'. And when, despite Monkey's frantic effort, Minute beats him another Minute pops up with the same challenge.
'We are lightning fast, and you are a slowpoke, Monkey.'
Fifty-nine times, Monkey chases the minutes until . . .
Time is a very abstract concept for young children and while they constantly hear about 'Just a minute' and 'Wait a minute' and so on, it is hard for them to know just how long a minute is. For anyone, even an adult, who is watching the clock a minute can whiz by or it can drag like a gammy leg, so it's no wonder it's a tricky concept for a little one to grasp. However, by having fun with the book and challenging the child to see what can be accomplished in a minute using a one-minute egg-timer as a visual reference, it will start them on the journey towards understanding. The addition of the strategy for breaking an hour up into blocks and the counting endpapers enhance the power of the book, as do the descriptions of the rainforest creatures that appear in Monkey's story.
Barbara Braxton

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