Albertan author Hazel Hutchins has created an engaging structure for her book about time. The length of verse always approximates the amount of time described. She defines a second in a couple of phrases, a week in four pages, a month in six, and so on. She opens and concludes the book with the same words, conveying the cyclical nature of time.

In verse that doesn’t always scan, Hutchins depicts childhood as a time filled with only pleasant occupations. And this irks me. As a mother of two, I know that childhood is filled with tantrums as well as kisses, homework struggles as well as sandcastles, and it seems sentimental to leave all that out. Her last line epitomizes this glossing-over approach: “You will be loved/As surely as/A second/Is a hiccup.” There are unloved children in the world; there are nightmares and bullies. My five-year-old asked me twice to stop reading the book, perhaps because this idealized version of childhood doesn’t ring true. Shirley Hughes manages, in her picture books, to include some of the mishaps and disappointments of childhood, while still achieving the same cozy warmth.

The illustrations are wonderful. Denton follows three children and their families through the seasons. This reassures children that though many things change over time, the same people can be part of their lives. Denton’s lines are relaxed and natural, and her depictions of children’s postures and expressions are acutely observed. The artwork reflects the text in that these children and their parents never frown, the baby never cries. It shows childhood as we would like to remember it, all long sunny days and restful moonlit nights.