Alas, neither Candlewick nor Walker Books, which published the UK edition of The Time Book, has made any images of the interior pages available, so you're going to have to be satisfied with the cover as a sample of Richard Holland's artwork. (Click the image to see the really high-res version.)The illustrations, you see, are what make this book work. They're described in the front matter as "mixed media," and in this case it appears to mean Victorian-style collage with a sense of humor.
The text isn't too shabby either (although it has no references whatsoever - no bibliography, no further reading, and definitely no citations). This isn't A Brief History of Time Young Readers' Edition, it's an overview of timekeeping systems in different cultures - and species - and the difficulties of making it fit into any sort of orderly calendar.And if you finish reading this and find you want a floral clock of your own - well, blame Martin Jenkins and Richard Holland - and Carolus Linnaeus - not me.
The Time Book was a Cybils nominee for MG/YA non-fiction. Review copy provided by publisher.
8 comments:
I was absolutely swoony over this one - just gorgeous and the illustrations are killer. I'm absurd fan and wish there was some way to let art people know more about it - collage folks would go nuts for it.
And along those lines, I'd love to be able to send people to the artist's website (like I'll be doing for Jesse Joshua Watson when I get a review of I and I Bob Marley posted) - but he doesn't seem to have one.
Floral clock = be still my heart. Cannot WAIT to see this book. Thanks for the peek!
Looks like a beautiful book. I will be on the look out for it. Thanks for calling attention to it!
Melissa, the clock in the picture is from Edinburgh. I think that's a good excuse for a vacation, don't you?
Thanks for stopping by, Heather! Hope you enjoy the book.
I saw this in a book shop some time ago and thought it looked good, but as I was with the kids I didn't have time to read it all the way through so I didn't buy it. When I got home I checked on Amazon and it didn't have a good review, so it's now really interesting to see a more positive one. I think I shall have to trek back to the bookshop and have another look!
(Trying this again since I started talking about the wrong book in my last comment - and this is my own blog. That's rather pathetic.)
The book isn't perfect, but the artwork really sets it apart, and they do a good job of explaining things like the problem with trying to align solar and lunar calendars. I'd say it's worth a look.
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