Review by Booklist Review
Time is a difficult concept to explain, but Morstad uses a variety of apt descriptions and illustrations to define it in a manner comprehensible to children. Beginning with "Time is a seed. Sleeping, waiting in the dark," the author/illustrator shows a plant progressing through the life cycle from seed to flower, then demonstrates how the loss of its petals signals the end of its life. She elucidates how time can seem to move slowly, as when a spider weaves its web, when preparing and baking a deliciously anticipated loaf of bread, or when waiting for the school day to end or enduring a time-out. Other times it can feel that time advances more swiftly, as when the earth rotates and shadows change shape and length, or when the progression of a sunset becomes visible. Two pages of Norman Rockwellesque illustrations portray faces in stages of transition from childhood to adult as time moves on. Over displays of the passages of time, caterpillars become butterflies and mountains break down to become small rocks. Time can be frozen when captured by a camera, but otherwise it moves inexorably on. The clever illustrations are done in pencil, markers, colored inks, and pastels with digital assistance. The pictures change in shape, sizes, and colors, creating a fascinating way to think about the passage of time.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"Time is the tick tick tock/ of the/ clock/ and/ numbers and words on a calendar.// But what else is time?" This ethereal book of ideas by Morstad (Girl on a Motorcycle) captures variations on how time passes in lyrical writing and images that offer moments of wonder and change. Multimedia spreads capture the way that time can be seen in the movement of sun across the floor, the rising of bread dough, the growth of flora: "Time is a tree./ While it grows, so do you./ Who will be taller in two years?/ In ten years?" In one spread, Morstad draws an inclusive array of maturing faces, starting with children and imagining them aging into young people or middle-aged people with lined skin: "Time is a face whose lines and shapes change little by little, year by year." Other spreads show how the temporal can move quickly or slowly, be caught in an image and suspended, and even visualized ("Is time a line? Or maybe a circle?"), before the book's end cleverly brings readers right into a specific moment in a child's day: dinnertime. A conceptual meditation, winsome and enigmatic. Ages 3--7. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management. (Sept.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A series of thoughtful metaphors and diverse characters takes viewers through the manifold dimensions of time. In how to (2013), Morstad playfully portrays concepts both invisible (the breeze, bravery) and discernible (washing socks). In this companion volume, she tackles time. Like a spiderweb, time is difficult to see; like cut hair, it disappears after growth. Minutes move slowly at school and speed by as a wave knocks over a sand castle. Morstad's lyrical language is perfectly paced: "Time is a song. / Dancing you quick!" These lines are paired with three solitary figures in dresses, each superimposed on itself several times in variations of movement and tonality. Across the gutter, the text reads: "Or pulling you, / long and stretching, / slow and low, / to the sound of a cello." Here a Black child is shown in an interlocking sequence of nine steps, each iteration contributing to a rainbow effect. Assorted colors (with a cheerful magenta playing a prominent role), sizes, and patterns create visual pleasure and make the abstract concrete, while solid, spacious backgrounds prompt contemplation. The spread showing that "Time is a sunbeam…" contrasts a sleeping cat in the warm shadows cast by plants at a sunlit window with the facing page's black silhouettes and a repositioned animal absorbing changed light. This exuberant vehicle will expand the thinking of those just beginning to comprehend clocks and calendars. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
