Your guess is quite as good as mine (there are a lot of things that shine)
and this book is one of them.

RABCK to 4libros.

When I was a child and visited my paternal grandparents, they only had one book in their house - A Thurber Carnival. It was a huge book of quips, anecdotes, jokes, short stories and poems that he had written. I enjoyed that book for many years, but I never knew he wrote stories for children. I'm probably going to read this one first. Thank you very much!

Color me confused.

Or maybe just stupid. I'm not sure, yet, which is more appropriate this time.

I read the book and, all the way through it, my internal conversation is telling me there's some symbols I'm not getting, some jokes that I'm missing, some meaning that's hidden to the part of me that just wants to know the story. So, I promise myself I'll read it again, after knowing the tale, to ferret out the hidden stuff.

I finish the book. It's a cute story, but very shallow UNLESS there is stuff that's hidden. So, I delve back in, trying to figure out why there are 13 clocks, what the names of the strange creatures are, and the whys of various things, to no avail.

I ask my husband, whose wit is sharper than my own, to make the attempt. But, with his schedule, I might be waiting a few years. So, I look it up on the internet, and still there's no enlightenment that I can find.

So, am I dense, missing the point, or what?