Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude (Hardcover)

by Louise Borden (Author), Erik Blegvad (Illustrator) "THIS STORY IS ABOUT A MAN FROM LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND, who spent over forty years of his life making strange and beautiful sea clocks..." (more)
Key Phrases: sea clocks, John Harrison, Board of Longitude, George Graham (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5-This handsome, well-researched picture book introduces John Harrison, the 18th-century English carpenter turned clockmaker who spent more than 40 years perfecting a device that solved the centuries-old problem of determining longitude. Beginning with Harrison's childhood, Borden presents biographical tidbits that bring the man to life, show how he differed from "most other village folk," and set the scene for his later accomplishments. With no formal training in clock making, he followed his instincts and used trial and error to build innovative timepieces. The narrative next describes the difficulties involved in determining east/west positioning at sea, explaining that captains could calculate longitude if they had an accurate shipboard timekeeper (a task impossible for 18th-century pendulum clocks). The prize offered by Parliament for a solution to the problem is also mentioned. The rest of the book details Harrison's dedication, perseverance, and ingenuity, as he struggled to build and perfect an accurate sea clock and fought to have his invention acknowledged by the Board of Longitude. The writing has a measured pace that helps readers to keep the details straight and the scientific concepts are clearly explained and smoothly incorporated into the text. Blegvad's precise illustrations create a strong sense of time and place. Alternating between black-and-white sketches and watercolor paintings, the pictures show Harrison hard at work, offer close-ups of his various inventions, and provide glimpses of his England. Taking a slightly different approach and providing more depth, this book makes a solid companion to Kathryn Lasky's The Man Who Made Time Travel (Farrar, 2003).
Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 2-4. Like Kathleen Lasky's The Man Who Made Time Travel [BKL Mr 1 03], this handsome picture book biography recasts the story made famous by Dava Sobel's Longitude (1995) in terms children can enjoy. In unintimidating free verse, Borden narrates the life of John Harrison, the village clockmaker who invented the chronometer--an accurate "sea clock" that allows captains to ascertain their longitude and avoid veering off course--and then spent decades fighting for recognition. The text reads beautifully but sometimes risks oversimplification ("[he] had more courage than all the pompous astronomers and mathematicians put together") and is occasionally vague (Borden explains that Harrison's clock had no pendulum, but doesn't say what it used instead). Blegvad's artwork charmingly depicts Harrison's eighteenth-century milieu, though more direct support of the content may have been warranted. Young readers will nonetheless find plenty to inspire them in this scientific Cinderella story; however, many may reach for Lasky's version first for its more appealing title and Hawkes' illustrations, which favor the dramatic over the picturesque. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry; 1 edition (February 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689842163
• ISBN-13: 978-0689842160
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #129,843 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Children's Book, February 14, 2006

By	John A Lee III "jal3" (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

SEA CLOCKS tells the story of John Harrison, the English craftsman who solved the problem of how to determine longitude. Until he came along, latitude (distance north or south) was pretty easy to determine but longitude (distance east and west) was nothing more than a guess. The idea was understood but there was no practical way to make the determination. It depended upon the accurate determination of time which was beyond the mechanical devices of the day, especially at sea.

Harrison came from a humble background and trained himself. He managed to make important friends and connections. He also had many who were jealous of him and held him down. He spent his life solving the problem of longitude only to find that many snobs wanted to wait for a solution until it could be provided by somebody of the right social class.

This is not an exciting read but it is in informative one that might well appeal to young people. It presents just enough of the technicalities to make the problem understandable but does not go off into detail. Mostly, it is just a story of perseverance and honor. It's a good example.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An engaging picture book about solving a real world problem, May 18, 2004

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Louise Borden's Sea Clocks: The Story Of Longitude is a picture book rendition of a troubling problem for sailors in the 1700's and before - although they could measure their latitude, they could not calculate their longitude, and therefore did not know exactly where they were on the waves. Many lives were lost at sea because of this. The solution to the problem would be to devise a clock that would keep accurate time at sea, regardless of water or weather conditions. Many struggled to create such a timekeeper; Sea Clocks follows the work of mechanical genius John Harrison (1693-1776), who labored tirelessly to make a viable sea clock a reality. Black-and-white and some sketchy color illustrations by Erik Blegvad nicely illuminate this engaging picture book about solving a real world problem.