Blurb

This vibrant new picture book by award-winning author and illustrator Kelly Canby is all about time - making it, losing it and subverting the whole darn concept.

Emit (whose parents turned back time to name him) is surrounded by busyness. Dad is too busy to read stories, Mum is too busy to play games and Emit's brother and sister are simply too busy doing nothing to do anything, at all. Emit tries everything he can think of to get more time, he tries to catch it, wait for it, but it's not until Emit tries to buy some time that he learns the secret which is, if you want time, you have to make it.

The CBCA judges say...

Witty, entertaining and visually delightful, this book delves into time and time constraints through young Emit’s eyes, whose family always craves more hours in its day. Minimal but sophisticated, the well-thought-out text distils the complexity of the abstract concept it explores, cleverly playing with time related idioms and word puns. Bright, engaging illustrations, as if hand-drawn by a child, seamlessly integrate with the printed text demonstrating excellence in design. Varied layouts and perspectives enrich the visual experience, with key ideas highlighted through vibrantly colourful large text that sometimes becomes part of the composition. The masterfully crafted endpapers, in a league of their own, entertain and encourage further reflection about time and our relationship with it, while echoing a satisfying resolution to Emit’s own search for time.

A Reading Time reviewer says...

Timeless is a picture book that comments on good use of time, in a playful way. It’s about Emit (whose name is “time” spelt backwards) lamenting lack of time to manage all the busyness he sees around him and attempting to literally capture more time. The story ends with the satisfying solution that to get more time we need to “make more time”...

Teaching Notes for this book...

Fremantle Press, the publisher, has generously made teaching notes and a teaching activity available for this book on their website.

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