School Library Journal Starred Review

Gr 2-5 This is an entertaining and thought-provoking book about units of time, which may not seem like particularly captivating material until one tries to imagine a bumblebee's wings beating 200 times per second or a person standing at the equator traveling 18 miles in one minute as Earth rotates. Pretty cool, huh? Jenkins's fascinating way of looking at time is bolstered by a wide variety of examples from nature and man, and while many are simply fun, others will give somber pause, like the average use of 19 gallons of fresh water per hour for every person on Earth or the use of 200 billion sheets of letter-size paper in one day. With his trademark torn- and cut-paper collages in rich earth tones, Jenkins renders this package both eye-catching and mind-boggling. Teachers will find good jumping-off points here for math, science, and history discussions. With this browser's delight around, it's a sure bet that more than one young reader will be spotted trying to count blinks per second. (That would be seven.)— Alyson Low, Fayetteville Public Library, AR

Horn Book

Jenkins's trademark cut-paper illustrations portray time in the context of animal (and a few technological and earth-related) movements, such as the number of wing flaps and heartbeats in a second, distances traveled in minutes, and growth over years. The facts are interesting and will reward browsers looking for animal trivia or trying to get a handle on time. Reading list, timeline.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Jenkins brings fresh perspective to the passage of time in a thought-provoking picture book that features his typically

ALA Booklist

In his introduction Jenkins writes, "Some surprising en amazing ings can take place in a very short time." And, in bright two-page spreads of alternating colors, he uses torn- and cut-paper collage to illustrate the many things ocking, intriguing, hopeful, and sad at are finished in the blink of an eye. He begins with what happens in one second: "A bat can make 200 high-pitched calls." "A black mamba slithers a frightening 24 feet." "1,500 chickens are killed." One minute allows for even bigger accomplishments: "A skydiver in free fall plunges two miles." One hour is even more impressive, and then comes one day: "The world's population increases by about 215,000 people (382,000 are born and 167,000 die)." Fascinating though it is, the flat presentation has the quality of a museum exhibit, and some kids may sift through it just as quickly. In short doses, though, the art is clever, and the back matter regarding the history of the universe, Earth's population, and the life span of species is pretty staggering.