Telling the Time

Children's Literature

An interesting way to spend some quality time is to read about time. This easytoread teXt and simple format holds reader's attention and informs in a concise manner. As part of the "Everyday History" series, Rupert Matthews presents the telling of time in a historical chronology. He takes readers from the earliest civilization, as evidenced by the circle of stones at Stonehenge, up to the 1990s and the high precision timepieces that are required to function in today's society. Contrary to the title, this book does not instruct how to tell the time, nor is there mention of the Roman Numeral display common on watches and clocks. The color photographs and illustrations provide an attractive and informative teXtbookstyle book about the history of clocks and keeping time. Included are simple eXperiments using common household items. Students can try to replicate ancient methods of keeping the time. A timeline of timekeeping history from 30,000 B.C. to 1991 is included in the back of the book and will be eXtremely helpful to those with school assignments about inventions and their history. While the recommended age group is 4 to 8, it is difficult to imagine that a preschooler would find this interesting, given the vocabulary and historical flavor of the book. 2000 (orig. 1999), Franklin Watts/Children's Press, $20.00 and $6.95. Ages 6 to 9. Reviewer: Elizabeth Young <%ISBN%> 0531145883