Just a Second: A Different Way to Look at Time
by Steve Jenkins (Author)
What can happen in just a second,
a minute, or an hour? How can we measure time?
The flap of a vulture's wing.
A crocodile's heartbeat.
The weight of a baby blue whale.
The life of a mayfly.
These increments of time may sound a bit strange, but they are all fascinating ways in which we can think about time.
But what exactly is time?
In Just a Second, the award-winning author-illustrator Steve Jenkins brings forth unique ways to think about time beyond the hands we see every day on a ticking clock. This non-fiction picture book explores time and how we think about it in a different way - as a series of events in the natural world (some of them directly observable, others not) that take place in a given unit of time. Steve Jenkins' extraordinary illustrations will accompany this engaging look at time.
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Publishers Weekly
Jenkins brings fresh perspective to the passage of time in a thought-provoking picture book that features his typically elegant cut-paper collages. With a particular focus on the natural world and mankind's impact on it, Jenkins lists diverse events that occur in the space of a second, a minute, an hour, and so on. In one week, a ladybug eats more than 500 aphids, while each month "The world's human population increases by about 6,556,000 people. (11,616,000 are born and 5,060,000 die)." Jenkins also covers "very quick" and "very slow" amounts of time: a fast ball reaches home plate in "less than 4/10 of a second," while in one billion years, "Earth will be too hot to support life." Back matter offers information about life spans, population growth, and Earth's history. This subtly philosophical examination of time, scale, and the mechanics of life is all but certain to leave readers reconsidering the world and their place in it. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.School Library Journal
Gr 2-5--This is an entertaining and thought-provoking book about units of time, which may not seem like particularly captivating material until one tries to imagine a bumblebee's wings beating 200 times per second or a person standing at the equator traveling 18 miles in one minute as Earth rotates. Pretty cool, huh? Jenkins's fascinating way of looking at time is bolstered by a wide variety of examples from nature and man, and while many are simply fun, others will give somber pause, like the average use of 19 gallons of fresh water per hour for every person on Earth or the use of 200 billion sheets of letter-size paper in one day. With his trademark torn- and cut-paper collages in rich earth tones, Jenkins renders this package both eye-catching and mind-boggling. Teachers will find good jumping-off points here for math, science, and history discussions. With this browser's delight around, it's a sure bet that more than one young reader will be spotted trying to count blinks per second. (That would be seven.)--Alyson Low, Fayetteville Public Library, AR
Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
"This subtly philosophical examination of time, scale, and the mechanics of life is all but certain to leave readers reconsidering the world and their place in it."— Publishers Weekly, starred review
"This is a fascinatingly different way to approach natural history as well as time..."— Bulletin
"Jenkins renders this package both eye-catching and mind boggling. Teachers will find good jumping-off points here for math, science, and history discussions."— School Library Journal, starred reviewSteve Jenkins and Robin Page have collaborated on many books, including the Caldecott Honor-winning What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? and the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Move! Steve, Robin, and their three children eat, bathe, and sleep in Boulder, Colorado. Visit them at Steve's website at www.stevejenkinsbooks.com.
JNF051000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Science & Nature | General
JNF013030 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Concepts | Counting & Numbers
