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39th out of 76 books
—
225 voters
Time of Wonder
"Out on the islands that poke their rocky shores above the waters of Penobscot Bay, you can watch the time of the world go by, from minute to minute, hour to hour, from day to day..." So begins McCloskey's classic story of one summer on a Maine island. The spell of rain, the gulls and a foggy morning, the excitement of sailing, the quiet of the night, the sudden terror of...more
Paperback, 64 pages
Published
June 15th 1989
by Puffin
(first published 1957)
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My daughter and I have read Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey, as well as his book One Morning in Maine, which features a slightly older Sal and her baby sister Jane. In Time of Wonder, Mr. McCloskey does not name the two sisters who are summering on a Maine island, but his watercolor pictures look a great deal like Sal and Jane as I would imagine them as older girls.
I loved this book growing up and I love it now. I, too, wanted to see rocks that had been scarred by glaciers (not realizi...more
I loved this book growing up and I love it now. I, too, wanted to see rocks that had been scarred by glaciers (not realizi...more
I couldn't help comparing this to The Ox Cart Man. Each tells the story of a year in the life of a family, but McCloskey includes wonder with the routine. The hurricane adds drama, but even in the mundane the language gives life to the story rather than recording the events like an accountant for a strict miser that takes away food for each word used and adds a lash for any imagination. McCloskey's poetic language flows in spirit with the marine world he portrays. The rhythmic progression animat...more
“Time of Wonder” by Robert McCloskey is a Caldecott Winner from 1958. The story feels old and innocent when talking about the events happening in the story. It takes place in the summer time and the way the story is told was like talking to the reader. The story wasn’t describing what each individual character was doing but more like talking to the reader in a one on one conversation. It makes you think that you are there with the characters experiencing a fun summer by the sea.
The book overall...more
The book overall...more
1958 Caldecott Medal Winner
I've learned something looking at all of these Caldecott winners--I have difficulty telling the difference between watercolor and oil paintings. I think this one is done in oil. All of the illustrations are in color. It's not exactly photorealistic, but it's realistic without having much detail. I like it.
The story is odd in that it's written in the 2nd person. I think I grew up on Choose Your Own Adventure books too much to not have that throw me for a loop. I kept al...more
I've learned something looking at all of these Caldecott winners--I have difficulty telling the difference between watercolor and oil paintings. I think this one is done in oil. All of the illustrations are in color. It's not exactly photorealistic, but it's realistic without having much detail. I like it.
The story is odd in that it's written in the 2nd person. I think I grew up on Choose Your Own Adventure books too much to not have that throw me for a loop. I kept al...more
It's a story about some children who spend the summer living in a vacation home on an island. It shows them exploring the terrain of the island, playing with local kids, sailing, swimming, and preparing and surviving a hurricane. Some of the illustrations are magical, but some are boring. In fact, the book as a whole (except for the hurricane) tended towards boring. It was too long. Also, the story was in second person (the reader is the one sailing and playing and exploring), but the illustrati...more
Genre: Contemporary picture book
Summary: This story is about summertime on the beautiful coast of Maine. It is a story about the gifts and obstacles nature gives us over the course of time.
Critique
A. Illustration and imagery
B. The beautiful pictures paired with the author's way with imagery in his words gives the readers a sense of discovery, excitement, fear, relief, curiosity and a little sadness and nostalgia.
C. You can feel the relief in the passage, "The moon comes out, making a rainbow...more
Summary: This story is about summertime on the beautiful coast of Maine. It is a story about the gifts and obstacles nature gives us over the course of time.
Critique
A. Illustration and imagery
B. The beautiful pictures paired with the author's way with imagery in his words gives the readers a sense of discovery, excitement, fear, relief, curiosity and a little sadness and nostalgia.
C. You can feel the relief in the passage, "The moon comes out, making a rainbow...more
The pictures in this book had me torn. I thoroughly enjoyed the color and content in some of them, where as others seemed like they only showed half the scene. It seemed almost as though the book had been illustrated by two different artists. The color in the book was varied, however I would of liked for the colors to be more vivid to match the words in the story. Although, the pictures I did not like as much were the ones about the rain, because they were more dull, they did illustrate what was...more
Sep 16, 2011
Elizabeth S
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
picture-books,
caldecott
3 1/2 stars. I've read and loved so many Robert McCloskey books. For the most part I remember his art as being in black-and-white. So this book is especially interesting because it is in color. At first I didn't like it as well as the more familiar pictures in Make Way for Ducklings and Homer Price. But after a few pages the pictures grew on me. Both the text and the pictures have a peaceful charm. The story is very personal as we experience time on the beach as part of a family. Then the prepar...more
There's something about this book that makes it different from any other winner of the Caldecott Medal: It is written in second-person narrative form. Author Robert McCloskey takes You right into the breathtaking scenes of an island of Maine in the 1950s, sort of laying out and making accessible the experience for the grasp of very young readers.
The narrative leads You along through the scenes and events of a majestic summer on the islands. Weather changes from squallish to placid so very qui...more
The narrative leads You along through the scenes and events of a majestic summer on the islands. Weather changes from squallish to placid so very qui...more
Time of Wonder tells the story of two sisters on a summer vacation. It shows the entire summer from beginning to end of the family and goes through all of the weather changes and one big storm. The illustrations in are watercolors show the setting on the various islands of Penobscot Bay. The different hues or shading of each picture really show how the weather changes unfold. Even the colors on each page seem to tell the time of day and seasons of the year. As there is a hurricane, I found mysel...more
Robert McCloskey won the 1958 Caldecott Award for this lovely portrayal in words and illustrations, of a family's summer in Maine. His most famous and beloved book was Make Way For Ducklings, which was set in Boston and won the Caldecott in 1942. He also wrote Blueberries for Sal which I remember from childhood. It made me want to go berry picking.
I loved how the two sisters in Time of Wonder would go out by themselves in row boats and sail boats. Each illustration shows everything mentioned in...more
I loved how the two sisters in Time of Wonder would go out by themselves in row boats and sail boats. Each illustration shows everything mentioned in...more
The book is about two young girls enjoying summer vacation on the islands of Maine near Penobscot Bay, though the story is a bit odd because it is told in 2nd person narrative. The girls spend the summer exploring the island and the bay, swimming, and preparing for a hurricane that suddenly hits the island at the end of the summer. I wish I could afford to live on an island for the whole summer and not have to work, especially if I got my own sailboat. I love the illustrations in the front part...more
To say that this book was awarded the Caldecott Medal as "the most distinguished American picture book of 1958," is almost an understatement. An eloquent depiction of time of day, and season, capturng the light angles, foggy shadowy forests with its hushed silence that allows you to hear a bug burrowing into a log, starry skied nights, and the tails of hurricane winds; this story speaks in a language that might allow you to believe that you are standing on the island experiencing all these eleme...more
When I first read this book as a child, I did not really care for this book since I thought that this book was too boring to sit through. However, when I read this book later on as an adult, I realized that this book was a truly moving book. “Time of Wonder” is a Caldecott Medal award winning book from the great mind of Robert McCloskey and it is about how a family spends their time on the islands enjoying the beauties of the island. “Time of Wonder” may seem a bit too boring for smaller childre...more
1 like · like · see review
Tags: Caldecott, summer, seashore, Maine, storybook, hurricane, storm clean-up
Story of a family on summer vacation by the seashore in Maine, the preparation for a coming hurricane, staying safe during the storm, and then the clean up afterward. Illustrations are soft watercolors. Many pages have text on left side page with picture crossing over center fold. Each page is boxed in by a thick white border.
Caldecott Award 1958
"Time of Wonder" pictures and story by Robert McCloskey, The Viking Press:...more
Story of a family on summer vacation by the seashore in Maine, the preparation for a coming hurricane, staying safe during the storm, and then the clean up afterward. Illustrations are soft watercolors. Many pages have text on left side page with picture crossing over center fold. Each page is boxed in by a thick white border.
Caldecott Award 1958
"Time of Wonder" pictures and story by Robert McCloskey, The Viking Press:...more
Well, this is slight but nevertheless in some indefineable way compelling. It's mostly a slightly poetic celebration of the islands off of Maine, with pages of island and seascapes populated by birds and kids. Then there's a brief hurricane, which seems to do little damage, and the kids go home, summer vacation over. No plot, no real action, no climax, just a sort of celebration of space. The art is beautiful, though not in McCloskey's signature cartoon/ralist style--which actually disappointed...more
Oct 23, 2010
Bonnie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Ralph, Harry, Brickyard YW
Recommended to Bonnie by:
Gus
I am so glad I revisited this book, particularly as the season noticeably turns from Indian Summer to winter's eve with reports of snow in the valley within a couple of days.
What child and adult doesn't delight in the vacationing, the exploring, the discovering of a place other than one's own year-round home? Although I haven't been to Maine, my visit to Nag's Head, North Carolina, gave me some of the feel of a beachy living. (Somehow I couldn't compare this East Coast beach experience that I di...more
What child and adult doesn't delight in the vacationing, the exploring, the discovering of a place other than one's own year-round home? Although I haven't been to Maine, my visit to Nag's Head, North Carolina, gave me some of the feel of a beachy living. (Somehow I couldn't compare this East Coast beach experience that I di...more
This book processes many live life drawings of both people and their environment. The illustrations take up one page while the words are on the other, although the drawings are gorgeous I think the words add necessary beauty to the story, the words somehow make it more visual than with the illustrations alone. In this book I was more interested in reading the story than I was to see the next picture. The words created an image in my head first then the illustration simple supported a simpler rep...more
Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey features a lot of adjectives and description. I feel it was a book that would be interesting for students to close their eyes to and imagine the children in this book on their vacation adventure. There wasn’t really a plot, just a continuously built up image of this vacation. The images in the book were soft water colors which fit with the ocean/watery theme. Some pages feature a sentence that trickles onto the next page to show some mini type’s of cliffhangers...more
The first few times I read this book, I was a little disappointed. I love everything that Robert McCloskey has written, but this book lacked the simplicity of Make Way for Ducklings, Blueberries for Sal or One Morning in Maine. However, the more times I read it, the more I love it. The addition of full color does alter the feel a lot, but the softness of the focus and the brightness of the colors makes for a similar feel of innocence that I love in his books. I think this is a fantastic book, bu...more
Wonderful depictions of island life in the summer. Much of the first part of the book seemed like random poetic rambling to me - enjoyable, but very slow to get to the conflict of the story (a hurricane).
I was also struck by the things the kids did in this book that we probably wouldn't let our kids do today - diving off of a rock into the ocean (only at high tide, of course!)? Exploring the uprooted trees after a hurricane? I begin to think I'm a little bit too overprotective...
I was also struck by the things the kids did in this book that we probably wouldn't let our kids do today - diving off of a rock into the ocean (only at high tide, of course!)? Exploring the uprooted trees after a hurricane? I begin to think I'm a little bit too overprotective...
Caledcott Medal (1958)
Robert McClosky paints a portrait of a languid summer spent on a Maine island, surrounded by the natural beauty of nature and wildlife, lobster boats and sailing schooners. These are the halcyon days, and McClosky's art beautifully captures this bygone time in bright and tranquil art and rhythmic prose. Summers end is marked by the onset of a hurricane, which transforms the landscape of the little island and unearths relics from the past. As summer ends and the family prepa...more
Robert McClosky paints a portrait of a languid summer spent on a Maine island, surrounded by the natural beauty of nature and wildlife, lobster boats and sailing schooners. These are the halcyon days, and McClosky's art beautifully captures this bygone time in bright and tranquil art and rhythmic prose. Summers end is marked by the onset of a hurricane, which transforms the landscape of the little island and unearths relics from the past. As summer ends and the family prepa...more
In Time of Wonder, the reader will be transported to Maine in the summer time. Experience the sand, salty water, the lobster boats motoring by, exploring the woods, searching for shells on a perfect summer vacation. However, as beautiful as Maine is in the summer time, one must always be on the lookout for dangers on the ocean’s shore.
I liked the illustrations in this book, especially the part about the hurricane. However, at times the story seemed to drag on and was a bit boring.
I liked the illustrations in this book, especially the part about the hurricane. However, at times the story seemed to drag on and was a bit boring.
I thought this was a very cute book, I liked how the beginning of the book I thought that they loved there and in the end they were just visiting. I lked the story that was being told, but thought the book was long. In todays world pocture books do not seem as long as this one does. I also found that the subject matter of the story pertained to the year it was written. It seems to me the older books have longer stories then the present books, but the same messages.
McCloskey sets us down for the summer on an island off Maine's coast, offering up a feast for the eyes with accompanying slow-lapping pace of the text. With a more impressionistic brush, the harbor scenes, the full blowout of the hurricane, and the sunny and foggy days, all capture the visual and emotional sense of the place. I love the sea and I love Maine. TIME OF WONDER gave me a quick return visit that will have to do for now.
Feb 03, 2011
Dolly
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
parents reading with their children
This is a wonderful story about a summer on an island in Penobscot Bay, off the coast of Maine. The illustrations are terrific and the story, while a bit long, is enchanting. I would recommend reading this in a few installments with children so as to keep their interest. Our girls got quite a bit bored with it (despite the exciting hurricane and exploring its aftermath), but I hope they will give it another chance someday.
This book was written by the same author as Make way for Ducklings but I liked this one much more. It describes a child's experience of a summer vacation in Maine. If we take Holly to visit Aunt Sally some summer we should definitely read this story before and again after we go. The illustrations in this book are wonderful. They really make you feel like you're there experiencing things along with the child in the book.
Illustrated by the author using casein. Winner of the 1958 Caldecott Medal. Although I didn't especially like this book, I think that it has a lot to do with me never having been to Maine. I can imagine this being a perfect souvenir for a trip out East or a great present before a vacation, but it just didn't hit me. The illustrations did really go quite well with the text though.
This book is similar to Ox Cart Man in that this is a story of a cycle, and that is where it stops. The watercolor drawing are gorgeous and you feel like you are there in the story going to all the places they are going, & doing all that they are doing. This east coast journey of Penobscot Bay is magical. If you like water and the seashore, I would recommend this.
This book by Robert McCloskey has amazing illustrations. It is the Caldecott Medal Book of 1958. The story takes place in Maine and showcases the different changes that occur there during the summer and after a hurricane hits the area. From schooners to fallen trees and gusty winds, the illustrations really detail the scenery and feel of this area in Maine. It is a beautiful book.
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I think you hit this one on the head. I loved this book, especially since it describes some of the most beautiful coastline in New England. B...more
Feb 03, 2011 08:33am