diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+# 0.5.0.0
+
+  * add basic TextParsable instances and toolkit functions
+
 # 0.1.0.0
 
   * first release
diff --git a/enum-text.cabal b/enum-text.cabal
--- a/enum-text.cabal
+++ b/enum-text.cabal
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@
 --
 -- see: https://github.com/sol/hpack
 --
--- hash: de41441f44fa188062adf3893567b62b7ee598e3ad3cac9d4a37c598b02684da
+-- hash: 0aa3dafda03153aaeb2d912503d7c418a6e7beaba9d3a0830cf570112e6f8500
 
 name:           enum-text
-version:        0.1.0.0
+version:        0.5.0.0
 synopsis:       A text rendering and parsing toolkit for enumerated types
 description:    A text rendering and parsing toolkit for enumerated types. Please see the README on GitHub at <https://github.com/cdornan/enum-text#readme>
 category:       Text
@@ -43,5 +43,6 @@
     , hashable
     , possibly
     , text
+    , time
     , unordered-containers
   default-language: Haskell2010
diff --git a/src/Text/Enum/Text.hs b/src/Text/Enum/Text.hs
--- a/src/Text/Enum/Text.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Enum/Text.hs
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE GADTs                #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings    #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE RecordWildCards      #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE ScopedTypeVariables  #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE LambdaCase           #-}
 
 module Text.Enum.Text
   ( EnumText(..)
@@ -17,14 +19,13 @@
 import qualified Data.HashMap.Strict            as HM
 import qualified Data.Text                      as T
 import qualified Data.Text.Encoding             as TE
+import           Data.Text.Read
+import           Data.Time
 import           Fmt
+import           Text.Read
 
 
--- | a class for 'T.Text' parsers.
-class TextParsable a where
-  parseText :: T.Text -> Possibly a
-
-{- | our toolkit for enumerated types which should be defined as follows:
+{- | Our toolkit for enumerated types which should be defined as follows:
 
 @
 import Fmt
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@
 -- EnumTextConfig, defaultEnumTextConfig
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
--- | configures the default implementation of 'renderEnumText'
+-- | Configures the default implementation of 'renderEnumText'
 data EnumTextConfig =
   EnumTextConfig
     { _etc_text_prep :: T.Text -> T.Text  -- ^ applied to the output of 'show'
@@ -96,8 +97,15 @@
                                           -- the first '_'
     , _etc_char_prep :: Char -> Char      -- ^ applied to each character of
                                           -- the outpout of '_etc_text_prep'
+                                          -- (by default flips underscores (@_@)
+                                          -- to dashes (@-@)
     }
 
+-- | The default 'configEnumText' for 'EnumText':
+--
+--   *  '_etc_text_prep' removes the prefix up to and including the first
+--      underscore ('_')
+--   *  '_etc_char_prep' flips the underscores  (@_@) to dashes (@-@)
 defaultEnumTextConfig :: EnumTextConfig
 defaultEnumTextConfig =
   EnumTextConfig
@@ -117,6 +125,26 @@
 
 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- TextParsable
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+-- | a class for 'T.Text' parsers.
+class TextParsable a where
+  parseText :: T.Text -> Possibly a
+
+instance TextParsable T.Text          where parseText = return
+instance TextParsable UTCTime         where parseText = parseTextRead "UTCTime"
+instance TextParsable Day             where parseText = parseTextRead "Day"
+instance TextParsable Int             where parseText = parseDecimal
+instance a ~ Char => TextParsable [a] where parseText = return . T.unpack
+
+instance TextParsable a => TextParsable (Maybe a) where
+  parseText = \case
+    "" -> Right Nothing
+    s  -> Just <$> parseText s
+
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- arrays
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -163,3 +191,29 @@
     [ (TE.encodeUtf8 $ renderEnumText c,c)
       | c <- [minBound..maxBound]
       ]
+
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- internal parsers
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+-- | parse a decimal integer using the "Text.Read" toolkit
+parseDecimal :: T.Text -> Possibly Int
+parseDecimal txt = either (Left . typeError "integer") return $ do
+    (x,r) <- signed decimal txt
+    case T.null r of
+      True  -> return x
+      False -> Left $ "residual input: " ++ T.unpack r
+
+-- | Convert a 'Read' parser into a 'TextParsable'
+parseTextRead :: Read a
+              => String   -- ^ name of type bing parsed (for failure message)
+              -> T.Text   -- ^ 'T.Text' to be parsed
+              -> Possibly a
+parseTextRead ty_s txt =
+    maybe (Left $ typeError ty_s $ show str) Right $ readMaybe str
+  where
+    str = T.unpack txt
+
+typeError :: String -> String -> String
+typeError ty_s msg = "failed to parse "++ty_s++": "++msg