Thirteen O’Clock

Written and Illustrated by James Stimson

Chronicle Books, 2005

It was the middle of the late hours, twelve fifty-nine to be precise.

Eek!  It’s a:  Nighttime house filled with spooky things!  And the number 13!  (And it’s the 13th today!  Oh, if only it was a Friday!)

A clock in a spooky house chimes thirteen and all sorts of creatures come out to roam around the house.  This is one of those books that I picked up from the library because it just jumped out at me.  I flipped through the pages and what captured me first was the typeface.  The text changes size, color, font and even mood throughout, a facet which just contributes to the overall performance art feel of this delightfully spooky book.

I love the ‘tick tock’ pattern at the top of the page as all the creatures head upstairs.

Author/illustrator James Stimson has given us a a book that begs to be read aloud.  It reads like a beat poem, with occasional rhyming words, alliterative phrases and lyrical word choices.  Be prepared to teach your kids some new words, though, unless your youngsters are already throwing phrases like ‘horticulturally hideous’ around the dinner table.  Consider this paragraph:

What is it?  What is it?  What makes the odd timer tick??

What’s inside that swings and sways?

It is a peculiar pendulum with a precarious pivot?

A mistimed metronome? 

The artwork matches the story in its unusual and spooky tone.  Mr. Stimson did the character design for the animated movie of Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach and you can see the similarities in his artwork here.  So is this book scary for kids?  Well, you’d have to read it first and judge for yourself.  The ending takes most of the scary element away by turning the whole ‘sneaking up on an unsuspecting little girl’ theme on its ear when it turns out the little girl has orchestrated the whole thing.  And they all end up having a party together.  A fun twist ending for an excellent story.

And what did we learn?  What I take away from this book is that sometimes things seem scary until you take a second look and understand what’s really going on.