• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7
• Reading age: 9 to 12

When master fact-gatherers TJ and Seymour are asked to join the school Quiz Kids team, TJ thinks Seymour should take the stage at the upcoming contest against the high-pressure Fairview School team.

TJ is already more than occupied rescuing his cats and helping Gran get ready for her upcoming trip to Belize. When he goes with his dad to help with a renovation job on a huge house on Fairview Hill, he and T-Rex tangle with a rich girl and her giant dog, Frooie. Then Seymour develops stage fright, Alaska goes missing and the girl from the big house shows up on the Fairview quiz team. TJ knows he has to sort things out—fast!

Hazel Hutckins est l'auteure de plus de 30 livres pour enfants, y compris l'album illustré primé Mattland, une œuvre qui est aussi illustrée par Duan Petricic. Hazel vit à Canmore, en Alberta.

After many years of juggling writing, raising her children, and making a home with her now deceased husband, Hazel spends her days writing full time. Winner of Writer's Guild of Alberta Award for Children's Literature, she has written children's short fiction for Chirp, Chickadee, and Cricket.
When answering where the inspiration for A Second is a Hiccup came from, Hazel comments, "I decided to see if I could find other ways to describe time. When the writing began to flow in poetic form - and when I came up with the engaging title line A Second is a Hiccup - I knew I had begun a labor of love. The book went through many incarnations....in one version I actually brought in centuries and eons! Good grief! But it finally returned to exactly what it should be...immediate, simple and close-to-home. It is my sincere hope that children of all types will enjoy finding and celebrating, among the pages, the many ways they spend their time."

Hazel Hutchins' profile page

• Commended, CCBC Best Books
• Short-listed, Silver Birch nominee
• Short-listed, Hackmatack Children's Choice Award nominee
• Commended, Resource Links "The Year's Best"

"The book is an unpretentious charmer, just like its hero, and is a solid read for anyone aged seven and up."

St. Albert Gazette

"An all-around crowd pleaser by one of our nation's most prolific authors. Recommended."

CM Magazine

"The humour is catchy and one cannot help but cheer for the underdog."

Resource Links