A Second is a Hiccup Author:Hazel Hutchins Hutchins explains the lengths of various time units in original, child-centered terms. A second is how long it takes to hiccup or "to kiss your mom / Or jump a rope / Or turn around." A minute is not just 60 seconds, it's also time enough for 60 hiccups, 60 hops, or a little song including the chorus and the verses. And so on, through an hour, a... more » day, a week, a month, and a year. Ingenious examples include a month as the time it takes for a scraped shin to grow new skin and a year as how long it takes to outgrow a pair of shoes. Often falling into rhymed couplets, the fluid text reads aloud well.« less