Tick Tock Clock: A Phonics Reader (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Tick Tock Clock: A Phonics Reader Hope Morrison Cuyler, Margery . Tick Tock Clock: A Phonics Reader; illus. by Robert Neubecker. Harper/HarperCollins, 2012. [32p]. (I Can Read Books) Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-136309-2 $16.99 Paper ed. ISBN 978-0-06-136311-5 $3.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. K-1. Twin girls spend the day with Grandma while their mother works, and the passing hours of the day are marked by the ticking clock and their activities. The girls are a bit on the rambunctious side—whipping paint at each other, splashing their stockinged feet into the lake, hitting each other with pillows—and by the end of the day, Grandma's tuckered out. There is plenty of repetition to support the beginning [End Page 304] reader here: every single page opens with "Tick tock," there are no more than five words on any given page, and every single line ends with either "tock" or its rhyme. While there are a few stretches to fit this formula (particular when Grandma busts out the "wok" to make dinner), most episodes fit nicely into the story of the girls' day. The girls' inclination toward mischief is pretty much the only plot, though, making for a fairly thin story; much of the book's humor lies in Grandma's reactions to the girls, but this subtle, adult-angled humor may be lost on the intended readership. Neubecker's line and digital color illustrations contrast a tidy layout, with spot art against white pages, against the girls' wildness, their arms flailing, hair flying, and mouths wide open. Grandma's countenance decidedly shifts from happy to tolerant to frazzled to just plain worn out as the day wears on, though when the girls are gone and she collapses into her easy chair at the end of the day, there is a smile on her face and a framed picture of the girls at her side: "Tick tock. Asleep like a rock!" Copyright © 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois