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Louise Borden
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Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude Hardcover – February 1, 2004

by Louise Borden (Author), Erik Blegvad (Illustrator)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 16 ratings
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"For hundreds of years ships had been sailing to places far and near without really knowing where they were!"
Sailors knew how to measure latitude, their location north or south of the equator, but they could not measure longitude, their location east or west of their home port. Because of this, many lives were lost worldwide. The key to solving this problem lay in devising a clock that could keep absolutely accurate time while at sea, unaltered by rough water or weather conditions. With such a timekeeper sailors would be able to know the time back at their home port and calculate the longitude. But no one knew how to design such a clock.
John Harrison (1693-1776), an Englishman without any scientific training, worked tirelessly for more than forty years to create a perfect clock. The solution to this problem was so important that an award of 20,000 pounds sterling (equal to several million dollars today) was established by the English Parliament in 1714. Harrison won recognition for his work in 1773.
Together with beautifully detailed pictures by Erik Blegvad, Louise Borden's text takes the reader through the drama, disappointments, and successes that filled Harrison's quest to invent the perfect sea clock.
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Previous page
  1. Reading age
    7 - 10 years
  2. Print length
    48 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    2 - 5
  5. Lexile measure
    910L
  6. Dimensions
    8 x 0.4 x 10 inches
  7. Publisher
    Margaret K. McElderry Books
  8. Publication date
    February 1, 2004
  9. ISBN-10
    0689842163
  10. ISBN-13
    978-0689842160
  11. See all details
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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

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Margaret K. McElderry Books; 1st edition (February 1, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 48 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0689842163
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0689842160
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 7 - 10 years
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 910L
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 2 - 5
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8 x 0.4 x 10 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

About the author

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Louise Borden

Louise Borden

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Born (Oct 30,1949) and raised in Cincinnati, I have lived in Ohio my entire life except for two years in Massachusetts right after I was married. Growing up in an old house on a steep street, I attended a small elementary school called Lotspeich. There, all the marvelous shelves of books in the library shaped me into a lifelong reader. So it is a thrill for me to know that some of my books are being read by children in other libraries all over the country.

Before I became a full-time writer and speaker, I taught preschoolers and first graders and was even a part-owner of a bookstore in Cincinnati.

Today, it is hard for me to separate my writing from the way I live my life. My own family, personal experiences, and friendships, as well as a love of history and travel, have rich and lasting connections to the books I write. The first impulse to write a book is always triggered by something that has touched me indelibly.

In addition to my writing, my work in schools allows me to travel the incredible variety of landscape in Ohio, and meet the heart of its people. I have spoken in over 400 schools across the country, but mostly in Ohio. Because of this, I now have lifelong friends in communities from mighty Cleveland to small-town Greenville.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
16 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Douglas D. Rich
5.0 out of 5 stars A Stitch in Time
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2013
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To those of you who are interested in maritime navigation and are willing to set aside for a few moments your beloved GPS instruments, this book might prove interesting and informative. To those of you who want to share an already interesting story with children of most ages in a way that is both understandable and filled with suspense, Louise Borden's "Sea Clocks" will prove to be a treasure well worth discovering.

Long before modern technology made possible locating your position on the great waterways of the world, seagoers had to work carefully for many hours on finding where they were, and often their configurations were woefully--often tragically--wrong. Astronomers and mathematicians had for many centuries been able to use the sun to located on which global meridian a vessel at sea was located, but once they had located this latitude they had to find on which imaginary parallel they were located. With those two pieces of information located--meridian or latitude and parallel or longitude, the position of ships could be accurately pin-pointed.

But locating a vessel's longitude was very difficult using the sun and stars; more often than not those miscalculations led to shipwrecks, loss of life, being stranded at sea where seamen became victims to accident, scurvy, drought and starvation. It was not until John Harrison invented an accurate sea-going clock that navigators could accurately locate their longitude. The full adult tale is skillfully and wonderfully told by Dava Sobel in her "Longitude."

But I must hand it to Louise Borden--already an established writer of children's literature--to tell the story of John Harrison so that it can be fascinating and interesting for children. I've read it to my 8-year-old grandson and he loves the book. We never tire of the way in which her story is told and wonderfully illustrated.
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VLD13
4.0 out of 5 stars great for study of longitude and latitude
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2013
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This story is great for a "challenge" lesson about longitude and latitude. It's another example of how thinking outside of the box with math/science helped to solve a problem. Kids enjoy this story, but it's maybe a little better suited to kids who have a strong understanding of time, distance, and travel of another era. Gifted children may find it interesting.
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Richard and Liz
5.0 out of 5 stars Much better than anticipated!
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2014
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Wow! What a great book! We all learned ALOT from this. Yes the adults as well as the kids! Having been studying Longitude and Latitude in our homeschool this book really taught us how one man. John Harrison, persevered for more than 40 years to create a clock that would keep accurate time at sea therefore allowing sailors to know exactly what degree of longitude they were at.

Personally I think this book needs to be in every family's library. An invaluable source of information and important for us all to know.

Easy to read & liberally illustrated.
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Gaylene M. Comfort
5.0 out of 5 stars Navigation history
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2013
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The problem of longitude bedeviled navigators for centuries. This is the story of how it was solved. Great story, great illustrations. I recommend this book for young readers. The illustrations are accurate and high quality.
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O. Barr
2.0 out of 5 stars Why?
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2019
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A children's book, on a subject that seems not a child's topic. Adults and children old enough to be interested would be much better served by Sobel's Longitude. Or, maybe, I'm just not enough of a child any more?
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Penny Forney
4.0 out of 5 stars Informative
Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2013
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It wasn't what I expected, but will be informative reading for my students! Hopefully, they will give it a chance!
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Shannon
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2015
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grandsons loved the story.
One person found this helpful
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Jessica Dowell
5.0 out of 5 stars A story of trial and error
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2014
Before the days of Sea Clocks, captains of ships had no way of knowing where they were on the course of their voyages. They could figure out their position north or south of the equator (their latitude) by studying the position of the Sun or the North Star. But when it came to how far east or west they were from their home port, all they could do was guess based on how long they had been at sea....which sometimes led to problems like getting lost at sea. Many scientists worked on this problem of how to find the Longitude. The crown offered a reward of 20,000 pounds to whoever could find the answer. One man spent his entire life working towards that goal. This is his story.

I like several things about this book. First, it is told in a story format, but it is 100% based on historical facts. I love books that relate history in a way that is accessible and intriguing, utilizing the STORY in history. Secondly, while the writers mainly tell the story of John Harrison and his lifelong work, in order to give us a more holistic perspective, they also tell about other historical figures and scientists and how their discoveries and contributions ultimately impacted Harrison's success. Third, Borden emphasizes the character traits that led to Harrison's eventual success: curiosity, problem-solving, patience, and perseverance. In a society where information and knowledge are so immediately available, these character traits are almost foreign concepts. If an answer is not immediately within our reach we tend to lose interest. As a society, we are not comfortable with the process of "trial and error" whether in school, business, or our personal lives. Yet these are the reasons we have the knowledge and information (and the methods for obtaining them) that are available to us today.

This book is a great one for making connections across History and for stimulating discussions on how the discoveries of one person impacted another person's discoveries. What I love about History is that it helps us makes sense of the present. Take the message of this book one step further and discuss how Harrison's discoveries impact today's world.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Nathan Sawatzky
5.0 out of 5 stars Good for young kids
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 22, 2019
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Really enjoyed this story. Geared towards younger children, though other people can also learn from it. Nice drawings.
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Niche-of-Time
4.0 out of 5 stars Good collector item
Reviewed in Canada on August 6, 2020
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Might be for 7-10 year olds, probably appreciated more for the excellent simplicity of text and illustrations.
Would recommend for anyone who likes different things on the book shelf.
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