Thirteen O'Clock

This story is quite quirky and has a ton of alliteration. It is fun to read and will definitely expand any kid's vocabulary.

A creative story with a great typesetting and a good amount of alliteration. The best part about this book, however, isn't the story, the prose, the way the type is set up, but it is in fact, the illustrations. It's set in darkly toned colours and fairly simple drawings, each of which are extremely adorable. This book is a cute read, even if you're older than four!

The illustrations of Thirteen O'clock are enough of a reason to buy this darling of a book. In simple white, black and a shade of green, the scene comes to life in a marvelous way. A simple story that will have your tongue rolling in fun, and plant a smile on your face. A heart worming book that will set the stage for, what I hope will be, more books by Mr. Stimson.

I love the illustrations in this book and its innovative concept: a quirky clock that actually chimes at thirteen, quite unlike the ordinary timekeeper, that only runs from one to twelve. Stimson's brilliant illustrations remind me of my favorite animated films, The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, with the eccentric faces of unusual characters that pop out at the chime of each hour: "a spiteful FRIGHT who would have seemed more at home with his name on a tombstone"; a skeleton with a skeleton's key to "unlock the odd clock's small door to free his MONSTROUS friend, the THING"; "four ghosts with frightening groans (in their stomachs)"; and "with each haunting clue there came another, more horticulturally hideous than the other". With dense illustrations featuring lots of black, dark green and huge letters for emphasis, each page is filled with images as the clock unleashes a series of "things" and tongue-twisting alliterations, "hollow and echoey, and exceedingly eerie". This wildly imaginative book will delight anyone who appreciates oddball humor and the joy of language (even adults!), a vocabulary stretcher to trip the tongue and leave you laughing. My one criticism, and it is very minor, is that at times the type is difficult to read against the black page. But who cares? This book is a delight. Luan Gaines/ 2005.