Fix That Clock

by Kurt Cyrus, Kurt Cyrus (Illustrator)

Overview

2019 Kirkus Best Picture Book of the Year

A construction crew rebuilds a rickety old clock tower that has become home to wild animals in this picture book for fans of Sheep in a Jeep and Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site.

An underlying message of cooperation and conservation drives this rollicking introduction to counting and shapes.

The old clock tower used to stand tall and proud. Now, it’s rusty, dusty, moldy, musty. A construction team decides to turn zigzags into squares and get the clock chiming again. But wait: What will happen to all the animals who have made this dilapidated clock their home?

Nothing can’t be fixed and everyone is welcome in Fix That Clock, a celebration of hard work, compassion, and collaboration.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781328904089
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/26/2019
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	681,957
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD440L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Kurt Cyrus has hammered out such books as Billions of Bricks, Tadpole Rex, and Oddhopper Opera: A Bug’s Garden of Verses. He has also illustrated books by authors such as Eve Bunting (The Bones of Fred McFee), Lisa Wheeler (Mammoths on the Move), and M.T. Anderson (Whales on Stilts). Kurt lives in a small town in Oregon. Visit him online at www.kurtcyrus.com.

Kurt Cyrus has hammered out such books as Billions of Bricks, Tadpole Rex, and Oddhopper Opera: A Bug’s Garden of Verses. He has also illustrated books by authors such as Eve Bunting (The Bones of Fred McFee), Lisa Wheeler (Mammoths on the Move), and M.T. Anderson (Whales on Stilts). Kurt lives in a small town in Oregon. Visit him online at www.kurtcyrus.com.

Editorial Reviews

"With lots to look at and a pleasing rhythm, this energetic repair project ticks along very nicely indeed."—Kirkus, STARRED review "Cheerful illustrations perfectly complement the bouncy, catchy verse that just begs to be read aloud. A terrific addition to most collections and storytimes." —School Library Journal "Colorful full-page illustrations dynamically show the clock tower from all angles, and the text’s rhythm and repetition gives the story great read-aloud potential." —Booklist —

From the Publisher

11/01/2019

PreS-Gr 2—A decrepit clock tower stands abandoned and moldering. "Rats are nesting on the beams./Bats are resting in the seams./Time is rusted in the gears,/frozen fast for years and years." Then, with pep in their step, a diverse three-person construction crew arrives to repair the tower "marching up the ramp…Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" Starting at the bottom where even the stairs are unsalvageable, the team fixes the structure from the ground up, dislodging various resident critters in the process. Once they restore the clock mechanism, they build little houses on the sides of the tower for the rats, mice, bats, and birds displaced by the construction. Cyrus's radiantly sunlit spreads show the energetic scenes of demolition and rebuilding, his assiduous laborers in their colorful overalls and hard hats, wielding many tools that young readers can discover and name. VERDICT Cheerful illustrations perfectly complement the bouncy, catchy verse that just begs to be read aloud. A terrific addition to most collections and storytimes.—Yelena Voysey, formerly at Pickering Educational Library, Boston University

School Library Journal

★ 2019-08-12
Three young builders repair a run-down clock housed in a wooden tower.

The rickety wooden tower stands alone, paint peeling, stairs broken. The gears in the clock have rusted; most of the numbers have fallen off. Three determined young people clad in overalls and toting tools arrive to restore it. Two present as male—one tall, thin, and black, the other shorter and white. The lone girl has straight, dark hair cut in a short bob and olive skin. The rhyming text has an appealingly singsong nursery-rhyme cadence as it chronicles their arrival, the work they do, and the host of small animals that have made the clock tower their home. It also offers opportunities for interaction by describing details in ways that encourage children to observe closely and to count. Variations in the style, size, and color of the typeset add emphasis and visual interest and contribute to the playful feel. Crisp, colorful illustrations enhance and extend the text. In addition to depicting the action and individuals described (down to the last of 20 mice who race to escape the demolition), they reveal subtle patterns in the trees, shrubs, and clouds and the details of the clock face and its gears.

With lots to look at and a pleasing rhythm, this energetic repair project ticks along very nicely indeed. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews