TICK TOCK TALES
Twelve Stories to Read Around the Clock
by Margaret Mahy & illustrated by Wendy Smith
A dozen whimsically offbeat tales: two new, the others recycled from earlier books that didn't, apparently, appear in the US. As is her wont, Mahy begins with ingredients of proven appeal: characters such as pirates, animals, orphans, or other not-so-ordinary kids; situations like wanting a pet, being able to fly, getting involved in magical transformations, or simply instigating a celebration. Then, she stirs them up and elaborates on them with her own inimitably bracing logic and preposterous wit. Smith's merry pen-and-watercolor sketches intermingle with the text on every page, catching the comical, childlike tone precisely. (But why do the one-handed clocks that head each tale lack minute hands?) Just right as readalouds or for younger independent readers. (Fiction. 4-10)