Freight Train

Author and Illustrator: Donald Crews
Publisher: Sandy Creek 1978, featured edition HarperCollins Greenwillow Books, 2010

This is the dream book of my 18 month old, George. It's a big, chunky-sized board book, tick; it's about trains, tick; a big long steam freight train, double tick; there are very few words, tick; and it really improves if the adult reading the book adds their own train noises, smiley-faced tick.

For me, this book isn't a patch on another preschooler train book I recommended,
Rattle and Rap, but it remains a staple of our weekly reads as it's so popular with George at present. From experience, my three older children had tended to have outgrown this book by 2-2.5 years, but they currently enjoy reading it to George, and do better train noises 'going through tunnels' than I could ever do. 

The 'story' (and I use that term loosely as there is no real story) is about a train's journey along a track. Elements of the written word rhyme, so for example: 'A train runs across this track. Red caboose at the back' , but mainly the written element of the book is very understated, single words on some pages, 'gone.' As such, the book is strangely eerie, it uses silence in an interesting capacity: there are long pauses as the eyes are drawn to the trails of monochromatic steam left behind by the 'Freight train. Moving.' 

Very young children love going through the colour wheel of carriages in this book: 'green cattle car, Blue gondola, car, Purple box car,' (it becomes so repetitious for adults - and what's a gondola and caboose' anyway?! ). The illustrations are sleek and stylised, they capture a sense of movement and speed nicely, and the black and primary colour palette obviously hugely appeal ( are visible to) even the youngest of babies and toddlers. 

The book needs to be read aloud (well) and sound effects added for maximum impact. The cut-through on the train-in-tunnel page is really effective if you make a whooshing noise and stop as the bank returns, whooshing again as the train reappears. Again, this is all an exercise in playing with noise and silence; quite interesting for a children's book, captivating for young children going through the 'permanence' stage. 

In all, this is a clever, stylish book, but the long silences, simplistic block pictures are just so unfamiliar, so unconventional against today's children's literature market, you can't help feeling a little undersold. My 18 month old overrules me though, he votes with his feet, and this is usually the first book turfed off the shelf and placed in my lap. Whoosh! 

Here's a link to some Frieght Train inspired activities to support reading: 
HomeGrownFriends Freight Train Activities

Race To The Finish!

Author and Illustrator: Benedict Blathwayt
Publisher: First published by Hutchinson 2006, subsequently published by Red Fox

Benedict Blathwayt stories are good, but Benedict Blathwayt illustrations are sublime! Rarely is it this way round for me when it comes to children's literature, so the books of Benedict Blathwayt buck a trend. 
'Race to the Finish' is my favourite of Blathwayt's Little Red Train series (and we own every book in the series). In this title, do-gooder Duffy the driver, on old vintage steam train 'The Little Red Train', together with back-up-man Jack the Guard, are challenged to a race by the sneering cheating train crew of the modern 'Swish Train'. In a simple tale of old versus new
the rickety old (nostalgia ready) steam train is the eventual victor; the great British underdog does it again! 
The fun and drama are built nicely in this book when the reader is privileged in knowing (through being party to small, meandering illustrations) that The Swish Train drivers are cheating in order to win the race. My children squeal in disgust at the cheating tactics, such as putting oil on the track and letting sheep out on to the line to slow The Little Red Train down. 

Now because 'everybody loves the Little Red Train' and 'it's not that slow,' (or so asserts

protagonist Duffy the Driver) the community of passengers get behind The Little Red Train and she wins by an exciting, narrow margin. 
It's the pictures in this book (the whole series in fact) that takes the readers' imagination astray  as there is just so much sensual detail in the illustrations on every page (birds in the sky, deer in the wood, rainbows, waterfalls, depth of perspective in billowing and changing landscapes - beautiful!). The book showcases the British countryside in all its glory. 

The Little Red Train series has been a huge hit with Alf ( now 7) since he was 3, and Bert (now 5) from a similar age, but because of these rich pictures, with a real fix on the 
environment and wildlife, Edie (currently 3) also gets behind them. Normally she rejects any 'train, plane or boat' or general transportation book deeming them as 'for boys' (very sadly- I quite condone this) but she does make an exception with these books, based on their 
"things -to- spot per ratio of the page" factor. Now based on this, I would say The Little Red Train Series should be applauded for being amongst the most gender(s) neutral of 'train' books for pre-schoolers. These books have a very charming longevity, and will be a staple of our bookcase for many years to come (suitable for a good breadth of ages covering 3-8 years). 

See Inside Trains: An Usborne Flap Book

Author: Emily Bone
Illustrator: Colin King
Publisher: Usborne Publishing, 2013

Flap books appeal across a wide age range in our house. Our 18 month old gets a thrill from moving the flap, our three year old likes the anticipation of there being a second picture 'inside', and the older boys (5 and 7) like revealing the fact (and trying to remember or recite the fact prior to its reveal). 

We have several in this series of non- fiction flap books from Usborne on our shelves; Castles, Underground and Trains to name a few. They're proving useful books for 'independent reading' both at home and in school, as during such snatched occasions ( those, 'calm down and read' moments) children seem to want something they can dive in and out of quickly, diverting the next distraction. Some of the titles, Castles and Space for example, fit nicely with, and so might be used to supplement, KS1 topic work. 

See Inside Trains is a great 'lift the flap' fact book. The eight thematic chapters are set out chronologically, flaps are a good size and generally easy to open. The steam trains and unusual trains chapters are our favourites ( though the latter is more about unusual railway lines than trains). The children aren't so keen on the numeric facts about speed in this book, but they do like the facts about the components of the trains themselves, such as having 'cow catchers' and private coaches for special guests.

The page orientation of page 6 is a bit annoying, as its in portrait rather than landscape, out of line with the rest of the book, but generally the book has a clear uncluttered layout with short text extracts that might help model explanatory English.The type font used is clear ( not so much the fancy script on the cover though) and double- lined space. The illustrations are very detailed, and there's an appropriate and useful amount of labelling. The contents page is a little squeezed, and there's no index (features of reading non- fiction reading that children in KS1 are encouraged to engage with). 

There's also a hidden curriculum in these books, with short descriptions of how each era of train worked, so for example, steam, diesel, electric. My children tend not to like these facts, but I can see how some very inquisitive young minds might relish this sort of info,ration in this very obtainable format. From 3-5 years my children have enjoyed being read this title, from 5-7 they have been reading these on their own. The vocabulary and very short sentences aren't so well pitched to the demands of 8+ years, but for simplicity and as curriculum companions during KS1, thumbs up!