ALA Booklist (Sun Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2002)

With excitement and solid fact, Wells introduces the concept of time and how we measure it. The science is complex, whether Wells is considering time zones, changing seasons, or atomic clocks; but the picture-book format, with pen and acrylic illustrations of a boy, a girl, and a dog, roots the concepts in daily experience. The historical approach--from the sundial and the ancient Roman calendar to the pendulum and then quartz crystals--provides a step-by-step introduction to the amazing technological discoveries. Wells' chatty informal style will certainly help adults talk about the concepts with children, though the exclamatory tone and punctuation in almost every sentence are unnecessary. The amazing facts say it all.

Horn Book (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2004)

Fourteen-year-old Staggerlee's growing feelings for her cousin confirm her own suspicions that she might be gay. Resisting the less subtle exploration of girl meets girl and falls in love and lives happily ever after, Woodson crafts a more complex examination of gayness in the emerging adolescent in this welcome reissue of a reflective, lyrical story.

School Library Journal (Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2003)

Gr 2-4 This is a succinct, child-friendly history of how time came to be measured, from our early ancestors, who noted how the sun traveled across the sky, to the ancient Egyptians, who used "Shadow Stick clocks" to mark its path, through present-day quartz and atomic clocks. Wells discusses the Egyptians' lunar and solar calendars and the Roman calendar, and goes on to explain time zones, using meridian lines. Analogies such as "WITHOUT TIME PASSING BY, you couldn't play a computer game or eat a bowl of ice cream" help children understand the concepts. The characters in the pen-and-acrylic illustrations look a bit like a cross between B.C . and Doonesbury comics; the hand-lettered text creates movement around the sometimes multiple images on a page, and the combination of art and words results in fun. A terrific teaching tool, enjoyable as a read-aloud or when read independently. Wanda Meyers-Hines, Ridgecrest Elementary School, Huntsville, AL