Written by: Steve Jenkins
Published by: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-618-70896-3
Plot Summary
In Just a Second, Steve Jenkins tackles the concept of time. Beginning with one second and moving through different measures of time from smallest to largest, he ultimately ends with one year. For each section, he includes some background behind how that unit was chosen to measure time. The bulk of the book, however, is dedicated to different occurrences in nature that take about as long as the featured time-frame to be completed.
Critical Analysis
Steve Jenkins has written dozens of informational children's books and has established himself as a well-known and trustworthy author of the genre. Although the individual facts in the book are not cited, he does include a note at the end of the book stating that the facts included in the book come from a variety of sources. He also states that while some facts are well-known general knowledge, others are estimates, since it is impossible to know the exact amounts of some of the examples. He says that in those cases, he's used multiple sources and used values in the middle of a range. This note helps the reader to feel at ease in the fact that the information presented is accurate.
The book is laid out in a logical sequence, moving from the smallest unit of time to the largest. Each section begins with a note on how that particular unit came to be. After progressing through one second, one minute, one hour, one day, one week, one month, and one year, he also includes sections at the end of the book titled "Very Quick" and "Very Long". The "Very Quick" page features events that take place in much less time than even one second, for example, a Shasta salamander snapping up an insect with its tongue in 1/100 of a second. The "Very Long" section includes events that take much longer than a year, for example, the life expectancy of a koi fish, which is 226 years. These final sections are perfectly placed to fascinate readers who have just read through all the other units of time and are therefore thinking very methodically within those parameters.
After the "Very Quick" and "Very Long" sections, Jenkins includes a timeline of the history of the universe, a bar graph showing the Earth's human population from 1750 to the present and beyond, timelines showing the life spans of plants and animals, and a list of important dates in the history of time and timekeeping. These additional sections provide a wealth of knowledge presented in easy to read graphics that will enhance the facts already presented throughout the book.
Jenkins chooses interesting facts that children will enjoy learning about and presents them in an engaging way. To accompany the text, he includes vibrant illustrations using his collage technique. This adds depth and texture to the illustrations and makes them look more lifelike- some almost look like photographs rather than illustrations. The bottom of each page is bordered with a solid black line separated with grey hash lines at regular intervals. This simple border imitates a timeline with great effect.
The book is laid out in a logical sequence, moving from the smallest unit of time to the largest. Each section begins with a note on how that particular unit came to be. After progressing through one second, one minute, one hour, one day, one week, one month, and one year, he also includes sections at the end of the book titled "Very Quick" and "Very Long". The "Very Quick" page features events that take place in much less time than even one second, for example, a Shasta salamander snapping up an insect with its tongue in 1/100 of a second. The "Very Long" section includes events that take much longer than a year, for example, the life expectancy of a koi fish, which is 226 years. These final sections are perfectly placed to fascinate readers who have just read through all the other units of time and are therefore thinking very methodically within those parameters.
After the "Very Quick" and "Very Long" sections, Jenkins includes a timeline of the history of the universe, a bar graph showing the Earth's human population from 1750 to the present and beyond, timelines showing the life spans of plants and animals, and a list of important dates in the history of time and timekeeping. These additional sections provide a wealth of knowledge presented in easy to read graphics that will enhance the facts already presented throughout the book.
Jenkins chooses interesting facts that children will enjoy learning about and presents them in an engaging way. To accompany the text, he includes vibrant illustrations using his collage technique. This adds depth and texture to the illustrations and makes them look more lifelike- some almost look like photographs rather than illustrations. The bottom of each page is bordered with a solid black line separated with grey hash lines at regular intervals. This simple border imitates a timeline with great effect.
Review Excerpt
From School Library Journal, published December 1, 2011
"Jenkins's fascinating way of looking at time is bolstered by a
wide variety of examples from nature and
man, and while many are simply fun, others will give somber pause, like the average
use of 19 gallons of fresh water per hour for
every person on Earth or the use of 200 billion sheets of letter-size paper in one day.
With his trademark torn- and cut-paper
collages in rich earth tones, Jenkins renders
this package both eye-catching and mindboggling."
Connections
Incorporate this book into a study of time. This will give students a better understanding of how the different increments of time actually feel so that they will be more concrete.
Have students create their own activities that take a certain timeframe to complete. Students can make their own book based on "Just a Second" by giving an example from their own life for what takes a second, minute, day, week, month or year.
Students can use the timelines at the back of the book as an example to make a timeline of their own life.
This can also be incorporated into a unit about space and used as a jumping-off point for a discussion about the Earth's revolution around the sun, the age of the universe and other topics.
Have students create their own activities that take a certain timeframe to complete. Students can make their own book based on "Just a Second" by giving an example from their own life for what takes a second, minute, day, week, month or year.
Students can use the timelines at the back of the book as an example to make a timeline of their own life.
This can also be incorporated into a unit about space and used as a jumping-off point for a discussion about the Earth's revolution around the sun, the age of the universe and other topics.
No comments:
Post a Comment