Title: Time-Full Friendship
Author: Sam Heidari
Illustrator: Ivan Earl Aguilar
Publisher: Xlibris
ISBN: 9781499025217
Pages: 23
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book / Education
Reviewer: Beth Adams
Read Book Review

Who invented the clock with the second hand, minute hand, and hour hand; each over the circle divided into 12 sections?  Research will tell us it was not an individual, but an evolution of timekeeping beginning with the sundial.  However, creative author Sam Heidari has a story with a theme for young children to ponder in his illustrated book titled, Time-Full Friendship.

Here, readers are introduced to three friends, Mr. Hour, Miss Second, and Mrs. Minute.  Each character has their idiosyncrasies.  Mr. Hour is short and stubby and doesn’t move fast, whereas Miss Second is full of energy, tall and thin, and loves to run.  Mrs. Minute likes to move, but not as fast as Miss Second, but faster than Mr. Hour.  They all meet at a park which looks like the face of a clock whereas they give each of the 12 sections a number, and make up a game.  Each time Miss Second runs around the outside track, Mrs. Minute will walk one step forward; and for each of the 60 laps Miss Second completes, Mr. Hour will walk 5 steps to the next number.  Hence the theme of this book explains the movement of the hands of a clock to youngsters – something us adults take for granted.

The interleaving of illustrations gives this story a foundation in credibility, as the characters’ images fit their role perfectly, and the actions of their movement is well done.  The picture at the end showing the hands of a clock with the characters is a good way to take the storyline of this text and discuss with children the ‘how and why’ of clock movement.

Part fun, part entertaining, and mostly educational, Time-Full Friendship demystifies the concept of time keeping, offering youngsters a way to conceive of the relative movements of the hands of a clock.  Yes, the hands are all friends to each other, and the pictures will help children to remember the relative ‘speed’ of each of the hands as they move across the dial of a clock.  So, no pun intended, but it’s time to get this book for all young families.  It would make a great gift for a baby shower as well.