diff --git a/lib/epubinfo/models/date.rb b/lib/epubinfo/models/date.rb
index 30c7ac7..d8481df 100644
--- a/lib/epubinfo/models/date.rb
+++ b/lib/epubinfo/models/date.rb
@@ -3,16 +3,20 @@
 module EPUBInfo
   module Models
     class Date
-      # Time ({http://idpf.org/epub/20/spec/OPF_2.0.1_draft.htm#Section2.2.7 EPUB2 reference})
-      # @return [Time]
-      attr_accessor :time
+      # Date ({http://idpf.org/epub/20/spec/OPF_2.0.1_draft.htm#Section2.2.7 EPUB2 reference})
+      # @return Date
+      attr_accessor :date
+      # Date as a string ({http://idpf.org/epub/20/spec/OPF_2.0.1_draft.htm#Section2.2.7 EPUB2 reference})
+      # @return String
+      attr_accessor :date_str
       # Event ({http://idpf.org/epub/20/spec/OPF_2.0.1_draft.htm#Section2.2.7 EPUB2 reference})
-      # @return [String]
+      # @return String
       attr_accessor :event
 
       # Should never be called directly, go through EPUBInfo.get
       def initialize(node)
-        self.time = Time.parse(node.content) rescue nil
+        self.date = Utils.parse_iso_8601_date(node.content) rescue nil
+        self.date_str = node.content
         self.event = node.attribute('event').content rescue nil
       end
 
diff --git a/lib/epubinfo/utils.rb b/lib/epubinfo/utils.rb
index a6ad560..31bdd1b 100644
--- a/lib/epubinfo/utils.rb
+++ b/lib/epubinfo/utils.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,17 @@
 module EPUBInfo
   module Utils
     DC_NAMESPACE = { 'dc' => 'http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/' }
+
+    def self.parse_iso_8601_date(date_str)
+      case date_str.count('-')
+      when 0
+        Date.strptime(date_str, '%Y')
+      when 1
+        Date.strptime(date_str, '%Y-%m')
+      when 2
+        Date.strptime(date_str, '%Y-%m-%d')
+      end
+    end
   end
 end
 
diff --git a/spec/lib/epubinfo/models/date_spec.rb b/spec/lib/epubinfo/models/date_spec.rb
index 845c72b..7e1ec51 100644
--- a/spec/lib/epubinfo/models/date_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/epubinfo/models/date_spec.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
   describe '#initialize' do
     subject { EPUBInfo::Models::Date.new(Nokogiri::XML(File.new('spec/support/xml/metamorphosis_metadata_epub2.opf')).css('metadata').xpath('.//dc:date').first) }
 
-    its(:time) { should == Time.parse('2005-08-17') }
+    its(:date) { should == Date.new(2005, 8, 17) }
+    its(:date_str) { should == '2005-08-17' }
     its(:event) { should == 'publication' }
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/lib/epubinfo/utils_spec.rb b/spec/lib/epubinfo/utils_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4cf5276
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/lib/epubinfo/utils_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+describe EPUBInfo::Utils do
+  describe '#parse_iso_8601_date' do
+    it 'should parse only year' do
+      EPUBInfo::Utils.parse_iso_8601_date('2012').should == Date.new(2012, 1, 1)
+    end
+
+    it 'should parse only year, and month' do
+      EPUBInfo::Utils.parse_iso_8601_date('2012-02').should == Date.new(2012, 2, 1)
+    end
+
+    it 'should parse year, month, and day' do
+      EPUBInfo::Utils.parse_iso_8601_date('2012-02-03').should == Date.new(2012, 2, 3)
+    end
+  end
+end
+