The Tocks on the Clock
A girl goes on an intriguing trip through a magical clock in the imaginative picture book The Tocks on the Clock.
In Jozef K. Richards’s fanciful picture book The Tocks on the Clock, a girl explores a magical land where creatures reside at each number on a clock face.
Desi, with her dog, Lola, and her cat, Jack, winds through the fun world of a clock’s face. She stops on each hour mark to find its animals; they all interact, and surprises ensue. Some creatures are cuddly; others are chilling.
The yate who lives at eight has nursery rhymes written all over his walls; the gnu who lives at two lives in the zoo at Gnu Yak City. The slee who lives at three looms stories above Lola; the mive who lives at five hides beehives, wearing white-and-black checkered overalls and a big grin. At midnight, a beautiful surprise awaits; Lola and her animal friends are bade a good night.
Creative and involving as it presents time as a concrete concept and place—one inhabited by a variety of surprising creatures—this book uses subtle humor throughout to generate continued interest. A back cover map of the Land of Tocks, which is surrounded by fancifully named seas and rivers, helps to track Desi’s adventure.
Internally, the hour-by-hour illustrations are vibrant and rich with details, including the titles of books, insects aloft in the forest, and a person visiting the zoo in orange shoes. The book’s rhyming storytelling and playful pairings are instructive and engaging.
A girl goes on an intriguing trip through a magical clock in the imaginative picture book The Tocks on the Clock.
Reviewed by
Camille-Yvette Welsch
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
