How long is a minute?

Sixty seconds to a minute,
Sixty hiccups, sixty hops.

Or if you sing just one small song
Chorus, verses, not too long
That's just enough to fill

A minute.

From A Second is a Hiccup: A Child's Book of Time by Hazel Hutchins, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton (First American edition, Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, 2007). Hutchins describes measurements of time, from seconds to minutes, hours to days, weeks to months to years, in terms children will recognize from experience. Parents will be reminded of just how quickly that time passes. A delight to read aloud and to look at together.

[Kady MacDonald Denton's illustrations of children here are just as charming and expressive as her work in this year's A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker (Candlewick, 2008). According to her website, a sequel to that book (A Birthday for Bear) is now in progress. How long do we have to wait?]