Just a Second

Not since Hazel Hutchins and Kady MacDonald Denton's A Second Is a Hiccup has somebody made such a beautiful book about time. Only, where Hutchins and Denton used analogies from the world of humans, Jenkins not unexpectedly uses the world of animals. So what can animals do in one second?"A vulture in flight flaps its wings once. A pygmy shrew's heart beats 14 times. A bat makes 200 high-pitched calls. A rattlesnake shakes its tail in warning 60 times. A hummingbird beats its wings 50 times. A bumblebee beats its wings 200 times. A midge, a kind of gnat, beats its wings 1,000 times. A woodpecker hammers a tree with its beak 20 times."And that's just the first page! Using his signature bright backdrops and collage animals, Jenkins gives us more "one second" examples before going on to talk about what animals--and plants and planets--do in one minute, one hour, one day, one week, one month, and one year. He throws in an extra spread called "Very Quick" for things that happen in even less than a second. I once looked all over the place for information about the speed at which a frog zaps and swallows an insect (and had trouble finding that fact); here Jenkins tells us that the Shasta salamander "can snap up an insect in 1/100 of a second."The author/illustrator also gives us "Very Long," including "an ocean quahog, a clam, [that] lived to be 405 years old...." and he throws in a history of the universe (on one page!), Earth's human population growth from 1750 to a projected 2050, plus an extra chart about plant and animal life spans. Pretty stuff, and pretty fascinating!

This is a cute book to explain time but gets a little boring if your kiddo wants to read it on repeat.

Just a Second was interesting as it put seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years into comparison to events taking place in the world around the reader. Some of the concepts were a little larger than a young child can relate to, however overall the comparisons of time and things taking place were realistic and informative. A fun read for an adult to share with children!

This is another winner by author Steve Jenkins. Children and adults will be fascinated by the amount of time (little or long) for natural occurring phenomena around them. Jenkins does not dumb down his explanations, but uses language that engages and astounds the reader.

imaginative, eyemaginative Steve Jenkins has done it again, this time scoring a first on seconds.my youngest grandchild loves this book.

This book is wonderful; full of interesting tidbits. Great for young beginning readers and adults alike.

Excellent, enjoyable, imaginative and clearly presented analysis of our time measurements. Informative for adults as well as for children. Excellent illustrations.

Beautifully illustrated and jam-packed with information, this is great for an elementary school child and even better if you include a real stop watch!

I got this book as an inspiration to studying time with Year 1 and 2 - it is fantastic with lovely ages and great facts; my 1.5 year old also loves to look at it.

The book describes various things which take place in a second/minute/hour/day/month/year. It's a really good way of getting kids to think about time and it provoked some interesting and fun discussions in our house.

Full of amazing facts

Great book with so many possibilities. Great for all ages and interesting facts.

OK