Geraldine McCaughrean's My Grandmother's Clock (2002) is a timeless treasure. Here's the first line: "IN MY GRANDMOTHER'S house there is a grandfather clock, but it does not go. The hands on its big face never move." The clock is never repaired because there are so many other ways to measure time. Grandmother teaches us to pay attention to natural notions of time. McCaughrean's text is poetic. Grandmother says, "I can judge the age of the morning by the shadows shortening under the magnolia tree. By the time the shadows are long again, the day is nearly fully grown." Ahhh, doesn't this just invite us to take off our watches, turn off our laptops, and put down our cell phones? The large size of this book gives Stephen Lambert lots of room to fill with soft pictures of a gentle way of life. Moments become days become seasons become centuries. "Well, the stars tell us that Time's just too big to fit inside any watch or clock--even the one in the hall."
