Start with a Book

Loading
Summer Books and Activities for Kids

Time and Time Travel

Time and Time Travel

How to explore this theme:

  1. Choose books and book-related activities
  2. Explore more hands-on activities
  3. Try some summer writing
  4. Dig deeper with these websites
  5. Play and learn with interactive mobile apps

#1: Choose books and book-related activities Reading Adventure Packs

Hands-on fun and learning centered around paired fiction and nonfiction books. In each themed reading adventure pack you’ll find great book suggestions plus three related activities to do together with your child. Just download and print the PDF.

Time family literacy bag
See all reading adventure packs >

#1: Choose kids' books and book-related activities Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books

Age Level: 3-6 years old

Clocks and More Clocks

Clocks and More Clocks

By: Pat Hutchins | Illustrated by: Pat Hutchins

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

When the hall clock reads twenty minutes past four, the attic clock reads twenty-three minutes past four, the kitchen clock reads twenty-five minutes past four, and the bedroom clock reads twenty-six minutes past four, what should Mr. Higgins do? He can't tell which of his clocks tells the right time. He is in for a real surprise when the Clockmaker shows him that they are all correct! [Amazon review]

Purchase book

Dinosaur Train

Dinosaur Train

By: John Steven Gurney

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Does Jesse travel back in time or is an imaginative jaunt when he boards a train with a Tyrannosaurus engineer? No matter; train and dino-obsessed Jesse's imaginative journey is sure to delight.

Purchase book

The Clock Struck One: A Time-Telling Tale

The Clock Struck One: A Time-Telling Tale

By: Trudy Harris | Illustrated by: Carrie Hartman

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

When the clock strikes one, a fun-loving mouse runs up the clock. But what happens when the clock strikes two? A cat gets hungry for mouse-tail stew … and the chase is on! Hour by hour, more animals — and even a few people — join in. The crowd charges into the barnyard, dashes through the kitchen, and eventually heads right into the middle of town. Keep your eye on the many clocks in this book and follow along until this twelve-hour race comes to a surprising end! [Amazon review]

Purchase book

Time Train

Time Train

By: Paul Fleischman | Illustrated by: Claire Ewart

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Join Miss Pym's students as they take a memorable train trip across the U.S. to a time and place where dinosaurs roamed. Humor and adventure combine as Miss Pym is horrified but her students delight in getting to know the huge creatures firsthand.

Purchase book

Train Leaves the Station

Train Leaves the Station

By: Eve Merriam | Illustrated by: Dale Gottlieb

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Between the rolling cadences of this choo-choo and the vigorous swaths of color left in its tracks, this picture book practically redefines locomotion. Complete with a clock face on its front end, this little engine that definitely can sets out at varying times of day, accompanied by a brief rhythm: "Light on the ceiling, rug on the floor, / train leaves the station at four-o-four." [Publisher's Weekly review]

Purchase book

What Time Is It, Mr. Crocodile?

What Time Is It, Mr. Crocodile?

By: Judy Sierra | Illustrated by: Doug Cushman

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Mr. Crocodile has big plans for finally catching — and eating — five pesky monkeys, but those little rascals dupe him again and again. By the time the clock strikes six, those mischievous monkeys actually teach Mr. Crocodile a thing or two about friendship … and about having fun!

Purchase book

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Carnival at Candlelight

Carnival at Candlelight

By: Mary Pope Osborne | Illustrated by: Sal Murdocca

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Jack and Annie head to a Venice of long ago on a mission for Merlin to save the city from a devastating flood. History and time travel meld for an imaginative, informative jaunt. (Magic Tree House #33)

Purchase book

Flotsam

Flotsam

By: David Wiesner | Illustrated by: David Wiesner

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

A bright, science-minded boy goes to the beach equipped to collect and examine flotsam — anything floating that has been washed ashore. Bottles, lost toys, small objects of every description are among his usual finds. But there's no way he could have prepared for one particular discovery: a barnacle-encrusted underwater camera, with its own secrets to share … and to keep. [Amazon review]

Purchase book

Gold in the Hills: A Tale of the Klondike Gold Rush

Gold in the Hills: A Tale of the Klondike Gold Rush

By: Candice Ransom | Illustrated by: Greg Call

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Slide back to 1897 with Mattie, Alex, and Sophie where they meet a young writer named Jack London who might be involved in the mystery of a stolen dog. Before the children return to their own time, they learn about life during the Yukon Gold Rush in this highly readable fantasy.

Purchase book

Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve

Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve

By: Mary Pope Osborne | Illustrated by: Sal Murdocca

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Annie and Jack go back in time to Camelot to a haunted castle to find the Stone of Destiny. Their quest involves lots of spooky things as well as an apprentice wizard, Morgan LeFay's nephew. (Magic Tree House #30)

Purchase book

It's All Greek to Me

It's All Greek to Me

By: Jon Scieszka

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

In this installment of friends known as the Time Warp Trio, Joe, Fred, and Sam meet key figures from ancient Greek mythology when they're transported back to Mount Olympus. It all started during a school play about ancient Greece...

Purchase book

Just a Second

Just a Second

By: Steve Jenkins

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

In just a second, a bat can make 200 calls, a black mamba snake can slither 24 feet, four babies are born somewhere in the world, and much more. Time takes on new meaning in this stylishly illustrated, provocative look at time and how it's measured.

Purchase book

Me Counting Time: From Seconds to Centuries

Me Counting Time: From Seconds to Centuries

By: Joan Sweeney | Illustrated by: Annette Cable

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

How long is a second? Can you count a minute? What is a decade? How many years are in a century? From a second to a minute to an hour to a day — and all the way to a millennium — this playful introduction to time helps children understand the many measurements of time and how they’re used in everyday life. [Amazon review]

Purchase book

My First Book of Time

My First Book of Time

By: Claire Llewellyn

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Chapters on the passage of seasons, growing, and measuring time provide background, context, and meaning. A variety of effective visual aids such as timelines, photos documenting the development of a duck from hatching to eight weeks of age, and inviting descriptions of hands-on time-measuring games recognize that different readers respond to different approaches. Chapters dealing with the history of time-measuring and the various types of clocks add interest. [School Library Journal review]

Purchase book

Nine O’Clock Lullaby

Nine O’Clock Lullaby

By: Marilyn Singer | Illustrated by: Frane Lessac

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

When it's 9 P.M. in Brooklyn, it's 10 P.M. in Puerto Rico, and midnight on the mid-atlantic. Far from the vroom of New York traffic, the Puerto Rican night is filled with conga music, sweet rice, and fruit ice. In India, villagers begin their morning chores as well ropes squeak, buckets splash, and bracelets jangle. Meanwhile, in Australia, a sly kookaburra is ready for a noontime feast. Young readers will travel far from home, then back again, on a glorious bedtime journey. [Amazon review]

Purchase book

Time Zones

Time Zones

By: David Adler | Illustrated by: Edward Miller

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Why is the time different in New York and in Tokyo at the same moment? How time zones were developed and standardized are clearly presented in this lighthearted but informative look at the science and history of time and travel.

Purchase book

Age Level: 9-12 years old

A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time

By: Madeleine L'Engle

Age Level: 9-12 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

How the Murray children search through time to find and save their missing scientist father continues to enthrall readers even 50 years after its publication. The author was awarded the Newbery Medal for what has become a classic time travel fantasy.

Purchase book

Purchase Kindle version

Knights of the Kitchen Table (Time Warp Trio series)

Knights of the Kitchen Table (Time Warp Trio series)

By: Jon Scieszka | Illustrated by: Lane Smith

Age Level: 9-12 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

As a gift from his magician uncle, Joe receives The Book setting into motion a series of humorous time travel adventures. Joe and his friends, Fred and Sam, travel to King Arthur's England where they meet dragons, knights and more in this first Time Warp Trio trip. Smith's black/white illustrations punctuate the action in this fast-paced tale.

Purchase book

On the Blue Comet

On the Blue Comet

By: Rosemary Wells | Illustrated by: Bagram Ibatoulline

Age Level: 9-12 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

The Great Depression changed everything for 11-year-old Oscar and his widowed dad. Oscar's prized model trains are sold, his dad leaves Illinois to find work in California, and Oscar begins an adventure through time and places after he jumps onto a model train.

Purchase book

Start with a Book is made possible with support from the Park Foundation
Get reading tips in English or Spanish delivered to your mobile phone

Reading Tip of the Day!

Relax with reading
Make questions about reading conversational and a natural part of the reading process. Be positive and encouraging to your youngster and reward him whenever he tries hard.
Relájense con la lectura
Vuelvan las preguntas acerca de la lectura algo para la conversación y hagan que éstas formen parte natural del proceso de la lectura. Sean positivos y alienten a su pequeño, y denle una recompensa siempre que haga un gran esfuerzo.
Stay Connected! Sign up for free e-newsletters from Reading Rockets. You'll receive lots of great resources to help launch young readers.

More great summer resources for parents from Reading Rockets

Read Aloud Tips

Read Aloud Tips

Read aloud every day with your child and talk about what you're reading. These two simple activities help build your child's vocabulary and comprehension skills.

Get tips (In English and 10 other languages) >

Downloadables

Downloadables

Download these colorful ready-to-print lunch box notes, play date cards, and door hangers for the kids in your life.

Download and print >