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THE CLOCK

Name: THE CLOCK
Author: Pam Fong
ISBN: 9781454955009

by Pam Fong ; illustrated by Pam Fong ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2025

A joyful traipse into the past.

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A magnificent timepiece witnesses a train station’s transformation into an art museum in this blithely told tale.

Chronicling the true story of the Gare d’Orsay’s renovation into the Musée d’Orsay, Fong focuses on the station’s only permanent resident: a clock. In Paris at the turn of the 20th century, the elegant clock is charged with keeping everything on schedule. At a time when few people could afford watches, “the clock [keeps] a station humming, and the world moving.” Yet as decades pass, the station is abandoned and, with it, the clock. It could easily have been reduced to rubble if people hadn’t been dedicated to saving it. “There were those who remembered the clock…. Who admired the clock for withstanding time.” Under their guidance, the clock—never anthropomorphized—is repaired, refurbished, and put on display as the train station finds new purpose as a museum. Surprisingly poetic, even philosophical, language peppers the pages: “This clock keeps a world-class art museum humming…and stops the world from moving.” The clock and station are rendered with pride and dignity; Fong captures soaring steel and glass arches and striking facades, though human figures, who diversify over time, are drawn with less personality than their surroundings. Backmatter offers additional details about the Gare d’Orsay and the clock; no bibliography or further reading is included.

A joyful traipse into the past. (Informational picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025

ISBN: 9781454955009

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Union Square Kids

Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S HISTORY

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THE LITTLE CLOUD
by Pam Fong ; illustrated by Pam Fong

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HEDGEHOG AND THE LOG
by Pam Fong ; illustrated by Pam Fong

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WHEN THE FOG ROLLS IN
by Pam Fong ; illustrated by Pam Fong

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)