Seven Minutes Slow
Grade 6 · Chapter book
Seven Minutes Slow
Written and illustrated by PlayOwl
Every clock in Brasswater takes its time from one great machine, and nobody has checked it in years. An apprentice finds it seven minutes slow, and learns why.
- 23 pages
- 4,428 words
- Long read
For grown-ups: what this book practices, and where it comes from
What this book practices
An original light science-fiction story set in a city run by old, finely made machines. An apprentice works out from outside evidence that the city's time is wrong, and must decide whom to tell. Practices inference, following an invented world's rules, and thinking about shared responsibility.
- Level
- Chapter book: Six chapters, about 190 words on a page
- Themes
- Science, Honesty, Community, Courage
- After the story
- A short activity checks understanding, then a prompt to tell a grown-up about the book.
Levels are PlayOwl's own design guidelines for each grade, not a certified reading level. In I'll Read, PlayOwl records that a child turned every page; it cannot hear whether the words were read.
Credit and rights
Written and illustrated by PlayOwl.
- Cover
- Drawn in code for PlayOwl in 2026 with the Read with Olly illustration kit. An original design. Original work owned by PlayOwl.
- Illustrations
- Drawn in code for PlayOwl in 2026 with the Read with Olly illustration kit, from the picture briefs in this file (an invented city of stone, brass and bell towers, its domed clock hall and its harbor gates). Original designs. Original work owned by PlayOwl.
- Narration
- Spoken by the reader's own device voice. PlayOwl ships no recording. No recorded work exists.
- Text
- Written for PlayOwl in 2026. An original story; every sentence is new PlayOwl wording. Original work owned by PlayOwl.
