Dinosaur Train FROM THE PUBLISHER
All Aboard!
Have your tickets ready for the most exciting ride of your life on the Dinosaur Train!
About the Author
John Steven Gurney grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He studied illustration at Pratt Institute and spent summers drawing caricatures on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Since 1984 he has illustrated board games, advertisements, magazine stories, and more than 70 books for children, including all of the titles in the Adventures of the Bailey School Kids series and the A to Z Mysteries series. He now lives in Brattleboro, Vermont. Dinosaur Train is the first book he has written and illustrated, and it was inspired by his son's love of dinosaurs and trains.
FROM THE CRITICS
Kirkus Review
Thursday was a day much like any other for Jesse. Trains and dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs and trains.' In a brisk, bright, solo debut, Gurney combines these
two near-universal obsessions; Just as Jesse is getting ready for bed, a
huge spikey tail extends through the window, and the call comes: 'ALL
ABOARD!' Who could resist? Off Jesse rides on a train filled with enormous
dinos of diverse, recognizable sorts, all sporting a range of human attire
from business suits to blue jeans. The train is derailed when everyone
rushes to one side to view an exploding volcano, but with Jesse's help, it's
soon back on track, steaming bedroom-wards with a Tyrannosaurus engineer
perched atop the boiler. The author gives his towering prehistoric
passengers a friendly look, and depicts them with a crisp precision enhanced
by white or plain-colored backgrounds. Here's a train that will never want
for pajama-clad passengers-no ticket required.
Publishers Weekly
A boy's love of trains and dinosaurs meet up in a fabulous fantasy ride in
Gurney's debut picture book.....the illustrations mine a deep well of
childhood enthusiasm for a Jurasic cast and adventures on the rails.
Children's Literature - Barbara Youngblood
This is another fun dinosaur offering written and illustrated by the author. The book's main character is Jesse, who loves trains and dinosaurs. What a surprise when after a day of play, he is suddenly invited to climb out his window on a stegosaurus tail and join a trainload of various dinosaurs. Children will have fun naming all the kinds of dinosaurs. The train tips over when the dinosaurs all lean on one side to view a volcano erupting, but they use their strength to put the train upright and continue on their trip. This could easily be used in an early reader program. A colorful and charming book. 2002, Harper Collins Publishers,
School Library Journal
PreS-Jesse thinks about, dreams of, and lives for two things: dinosaurs and trains. One night, he hears a loud noise and feels the house shake, and, with a cry of "ALL ABOARD!," the boy finds himself embarking on an exciting train ride with all sorts of dinosaurs, eating and having a small adventure with them. The story is slight, but it's the idea of enjoying a good time with benign happy dinos, together with the brilliantly colored and lovingly detailed illustrations, that will stay with young readers and probably spark many requests for bedtime repetitions.-Marian Drabkin, formerly at Richmond Public Library, CA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
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