Around the Clock

October 20, 2014
There are only so many hours in a day, but Chast (Marco Goes to School) rules them all as she checks in on 23 geeky kids who each put a highly idiosyncratic stamp on a single, 60-minute interval. Much of the behavior she chronicles hour by hour is transgressive—or at least not on an adult agenda. “From 7 to 8, Billy’s muse/ tells him to paint the room chartreuse,” she writes, showing a young man enthusiastically spreading paint on every available surface in his bedroom. But an hour is also time enough to perform a good deed (“From 5 to 6, Steve is able/ to help his mother set the table”) or to come closer to fulfilling one’s dream (“From 11 to 12, though no one can see him/ David is planning a sock museum”). As in Chast’s brilliant work for the New Yorker, anxiety and happiness are never far from one another in these pages—the kid whose hour features a rendezvous with a frozen treat truck doesn’t look too different from the kid whose hour is marred by toothpaste that tastes “icky.” Ages 4–8. Agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency.

November 1, 2014
All kinds of things can happen in a 24-hour period. A series of common-sense-challenged characters engage in some odd behaviors that range from merely messy through weird to downright grotesque. Beginning at 6 a.m., when Pete sips a drink, and moving through the day and night in hourly increments, readers meet Hazel Jane and her 100 marbles, Lynn and her imaginary friend, the odiferous Shelley and an assortment of other strange people. It finishes with Pete again, having nightmares from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. Each activity is described in rhyming couplets that range from the simplistic "up/cup" to the tortured "muse/chartreuse" and only hint at what is actually happening. In a style similar to that of Steven Kellogg, Chast's ink-and-watercolor cartoon illustrations are filled with all the detail that is omitted from the text. Pete has turned his kitchen into a disaster area of spilled food and dinosaur toys, while Hazel Jane is dropping marbles down the drain one by one. Steve has set the dinner table with the usual dishes and cutlery, but he has added a hammer, saw, scissors and more. All the characters have round bug eyes and appear permanently startled. Young readers will have fun examining these vignettes many times to find new and amusing elements. Entertaining nonsense. (Picture book. 4-8)

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January 1, 2015

K-Gr 3- New Yorker cartoonist Chast presents a zany, hour-by-hour look at the activities of 23 different kids. A simple sentence in verse describes each child ("From 8 to 9, please observe Ricky: /Why does his toothpaste taste so icky?"), but the off-the-wall mayhem of Chast's illustrations is what makes this quirky offering stand out. Some of the antics are downright odd ("From 11 to 12, though no one can see him, /Dave is planning a sock museum"), while others are more conventional ("From 2 to 3, Ian's in school./Long division can be so cruel."). However, the manic, bug-eyed expressions of the children and humorously bizarre details in the spreads (Steve setting the table for his mother-with a saw, scissors, and a hammer) infuse each of the examples with a surreal tone. Wild, frantic, even neurotic, these caricaturelike figures aren't typical picture book fare, but they'll elicit more than a few laughs. Riffing on Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, the conclusion loops back to the first verse in a sly twist that readers young and old will appreciate. Though nothing here is inappropriate, a sophisticated, even adult sense of humor runs through the book. While some may find this title a bit disconcerting, most should see it as good, ridiculous fun, and future fans of alternative comic artists will eat this one right up.-Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal

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