Time of Wonder (Picture Puffins)

We keep a lot of kids books in the house, and this is my favorite. In my opinion this is a children's literature masterpiece. The Nightwatch, Guernica, One Hundred Years of Solitude-- in that vein. Along so many dimensions it shows levels of storytelling, art, and craftsmanship that are so immaculate, I almost tear up trying to describe it any further.It's a bit of a longer read-- for a child it is almost an epic-- which kind of requires an earlier bedtime, or a non-school night. Maybe that keeps it special for us.For my kids, it might not be on their top 3 lists at any given time-- but those change every couple months anyhow. I think spending the time reading this to them, showing them the love of nature, and of a simpler world, and for the ones I read it to, far outweighs more fleeting pleasures (which of course are important as well). That's what it means to be a parent anyhow. So make it a part of your life.

One of our most beloved books! Love the watercolors! Beautifully written.

I have loved this story since I was a child, and now decades later I give it as gifts for relatives and friends' children to learn to read. The two girls at the center of the story experience the joys of vacation on a island off the coast of Maine, apparently an annual family event for them. The watercolor paintings catch the beauty and subtlety of color of water, land, forest, and weather. I love the page where the girls are in a rowboat shining a flashlight into the water. The build to the big storm gives a strong push to the narrative, and the paintings capture it perfectly. A great book for curling up with a loved child.

A delightful children’s story. My grands ask me to read it over and over. They can relate because they visit us at our house on a large pond in Maine.

My grandkids loved it!

Great gift for my first Granddaughter!

I will always remember the pleasure we had reading books to our kids. Chris Van Allsburg and Robert McCloskey were favorite authors, but this one book stands above them all. I've read Time of Wonder to more kids than I can count and to several groups of seniors in a nursing home. I love the way McCloskey's words roll off the tongue. The illustrations are wonderful, the words are lyrical, and the plot is of course -- full of wonder. I hope someone will read it to me when I am, as we say, “in the home.”

The full color illustrations are wonderful. The text is a bit more dreamy than other McCloskey books. Personally, I prefer "Blueberries for Sal" or "One Morning in Maine" for the text of the story. That said, it's an excellent, classic children's book, and would make a fine addition to any collection.

This story is beautifully told and illustrated! It makes me long for the adventures of a childhood summer spent at the cottage.

This book transported me to a stunning location with fascinating wildlife. But it awakened a longing for childhood and family holidays from my past and a longing for future in heaven. A simply stunning book.

This is high art in the form of a children's picture book. The combination of the poetry and the beautiful painterly images create a feeling of a both wonder and sadness. For kids this is a great story about having and adventurous summer on an island in Maine. For adults seeing the summer pass for these two little girls also evokes the feeling a larger sense of time passing and how fleeting our time on earth really is. The book won the Caldecott Medal in 1957.

我々大人というのは、実は子供時代に全身で大自然を感じながら大きくなって来た、その結果なのだと言うことを、これ程ドラマチックに解らせてくれる本はないだろう。すごい衝撃をうけた。素晴らしいアメリカの避暑地を舞台に、そこで過ごすひと夏の間にも、あるいは一日の間にも、ダイナミックに変化を続ける自然、自然、自然。それを、伸びやかな女の子が余すところなく享受している様を描ききっているのは見事である。「・・・ほろびしものはなつかしきかな（牧水）」という詩がある。過ぎてしまった子供時代と、止まることのない時。それらへの哀惜が、この本の一頁一頁に描き出された情景と静謐な語りを通して、我々のはるかな記憶を喚起して止むことがない。自然とともに過ごした子供!時代のかけがえのなさを、悲しいほど思い知らされた。忘れ得ない一冊である。

Really a lovely book, nicely written and illustrated.