I Love Trains!
- Book Review,
by Philemon Sturges, Shari Halpern (Illustrator)
Amazon.com
A little boy in a striped engineer cap and overalls extols the many virtues of trains in this boldly colored celebration of that most romantic form of transportation. Holding a toy train, he gazes out his bedroom window onto the bucolic countryside bisected by a set of tracks, while train cars "hoot and roar as they rumble by my door." One long train stretches over the course of the book; every two-page spread features several types of cars and the boy's simple, rhyming descriptions. "Some carry steel; some carry scrap, or secret stuff that's under wrap." The latter shows what's obviously an airplane, under cover. Vibrant swaths of color and heavy black outlines make the vivid, almost childlike pictures particularly pleasing to the eye. And as the last car rounds the bend, we discover there's a special reason our hero loves trains so much, especially the caboose! Tiny train fans will cheer to find this delightful companion to Philemon Sturges and Shari Halpern's I Love Trucks!. (Ages 3 to 6) --Emilie Coulter
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 1-As he watches a train go by, a little boy describes the vehicle in rhyming text. "Some cars keep things from the rain./Some cars carry trucks or grain,/or cows,/or hogs,/or gas,/or logs." However, by the child's reckoning, "-the best car's at the end,/and as the train goes round the bend," he waves, "-glad/to see the car that carries Dad." Boldly colored, unadorned illustrations accompany the text. Additional information about trains is provided on the endpapers. Although this title is not as well constructed as Donald Crews's Freight Train (Greenwillow, 1978) or as detailed as Gail Gibbons's Trains (Holiday, 1987), youngsters should enjoy the simple story, whether it is shared as a read-aloud or one-on-one.Melinda Piehler, North Tonawanda Public Library, NY Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Ages 1-5. A celebration for train lovers, this simple, rhyming picture book gives a few basic facts about freight trains and what the special train cars do. Clear, bright, double-page pictures with thick black lines and neon colors show the engine close up, "big and strong," and then steaming across the countryside "pulling lots of cars along." The various cars carry trucks or grain or gas or logs or steel or scrap. Toddlers will enjoy making the hoot, roar, and rumble sounds and identifying the various cars, just like the enthusiastic kid on the final double-page spread, who is playing with a train set in his room. Older preschoolers will be ready for the endpapers that give a brief definition of a flatcar, a hopper, a boxcar, and others terms, and describe the amazing loads they carry. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
A follow-up to the successful I Love Trucks!, this rhymed picture book introduces the preschool set to trains and the jobs they do.
Card catalog description
A boy expresses his love of trains, describing many kinds of train cars and their special jobs.
About the Author
Philemon Sturges is an architect as well as the author of several books for children, including I Love Trains! and I Love Trucks! He and Shari Halpern also collaborated on Rainsong/Snowsong. He lives with his wife in Boston, Massachusetts.
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