It’s About Time, Max!-Book Review

Telling time is a skill everyone learns but the author Kitty Richards gets it right in her children story, It’s About Time Max! The story makes the old adage time flies when you’re having fun come true. This coming of age story deals with how to tell time, a topic that many people forget when they become adults. This story will have children wondering how an author can understand their feelings so well, and will have adults remembering their first experience with time.
Max is in control of his routine through the power of his digital watch. One morning his digital watch disappears and now his whole world is turned upside down. Max is in a hurry accepts a different watch from his sister, but unbeknownst to him it is a clock with hands. Max struggles with his transition from a digital clock to a clock with hands on it. Because of his struggle with time he is late to school and to a monster movie. That is until his family decides to come to his rescue and teach Max how to tell time with a game.
Understanding the normal routine of Max and how it gets so messy with misunderstanding of time is a great depiction of our society. Time is a crucial element to human life and the portrayal of this aspect of life in this story lets children understand how important it is to tell time. Some stories see to have the right premises but go wrong in their storytelling. The opposite occurred in this story, Kitty Richards, got this premise right and the story paid dividends for it.
Richards, Kitty. (2000). It’s About Time Max! New York: The Kane Press.

Zoom

I think the book Zoom is a neat to look at. I have a problem giving any literary merit to the book. I compare this book to a cake or ice cream. Zoom is sweet and goes great after another reading that has more nutritional value. Zoom is not a main course by itself, but is a good dessert.

Chapter 15

As a child I never saw a book that would be considered multicultural. I am glad to see the emergence and popularity of these type of books. It is not only a benefit to the students that the book targets but it also helps other students become more informed on other cultures besides their own.

Baby Mouse Craft Lesson

Many students can identify with a fear that they must face. This craft lesson is intended for a older audience of maybe 4th to 5th graders. In the story Baby Mouse overcomes her fear of dodge ball. I would read the book aloud and have the students discuss what they have a fear of and what they have done to overcome their fear. I would have the children write what their fear is and describe the feelings they get when they are encountering their fear. After they finish writing they can share the feelings that they go through.

Baby Mouse

I thought the book was extremely funny. I am not sure but to me it felt as if the book was a parody of super heroes and comic books. Also I thought the story was a bit chaotic and not easy to follow for a young reader.

Stuarts Cape Craft Lesson

The part of the book that I really enjoyed was when the exotic animals did not like that Stuart was pretending to be the them, so they come and live the day like Stuart does. I think that this is an important lesson for a child to learn. This could occur with the older kids of fourth or third grade. I would have the children to research on an animal of their choosing. They would need learn the way that animal lives and what that animal typically does during their routine. Like what they eat, where they sleep, do they live in packs. These are all questions the children need to be able to answer, because they then are going to write a paper about if they were a animal, what would their day consist of. The students paper would be in first person as if they are the animal, and write a story about what they did for the day. They would incorporate all the facts they researched.

Chapter 13

When I was a young reader my favorite reads were biographies. My favorite were sports figures and historical biographies. I think that young students can really enjoy a great biography especially like the book said trendy biographies. I just think that biographies may not offer up the most imagination especially if they are long reads. But there is much to benefit from in the books to read.