Title: The Exasperated Clock
Author: Debbie Hickman
Illustrator: Adam Taylor
Publisher: AuthorsPress
ISBN: 978-1-64314-431-3
Pages: 38
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Hollywood Book Reviews
The combination of witty words by author Debbie Hickman along with the fanciful artwork by Adam Taylor brings The Exasperated Clock into the “Starred” category within the educational and fun-filled illustrated children’s book genre.
Such a cleverly creative concept; having a wall clock dealing with unruly numbers frolicking around on the clock’s face, as they are all misbehaving and frustrating the clock by not doing their job staying in place. For example, the 1 was arguing with the 12 as to who was more important; the 12 claiming it is the top of importance because there are two words named after it, “noon and midnight.” The 1 retorts saying it is the best number because it is in “first place,” as nothing is better than being first. The 8 gets tired of the chaos and heads off to the Pacific Ocean to go surfing. The 6 and 7 giggle to their rhyming poetry, “Clocks Rocks. Fives Dives, Nines whines, Eight, Great, Twos Lose.” And so on and so forth. Get the picture? No worries, if you don’t, the pictures will bring it all together with each digit having two cartoonish expressive eyes, and movement shown by the progressing of image-to-image revealing the flow of activity.
The pictures clarify the silliness of the galley text of this amazingly original book. The inherent numerology and math-related narrative brings an understanding to youngsters as to the elements of reading the time on the face of a clock, as well as simple addition and subtraction. A quick quiz is offered at the end of the book to enable children to sharpen and practice their math skills.
The numbers get tired of being on the face of the clock, as the clock itself gets annoyed at trying to keep the numbers behaved. So, the numbers go off to seek their own destiny. For example, 8 spends time with an Octopus in the ocean; 3 helps out boys and girls on Tricycles; 7 follows Snow White; and 12 counts eggs in a dozen. Sadly, the clock, who at first liked the peace and solitude of having a numberless face, begins to miss the numbers. It tried to substitute letters, but that didn’t seem to work out well. Although the clock seemed lonely, it lived peacefully for a long time. Until the “S” which was substituted on the face of the clock realized this entire book is “Silly.”
The Exasperated Clock is a must-have book for all children’s libraries and will enhance the learning of numbers and telling time. It is an imaginative addition to the other books by the talented author Debbie Hickman.
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