Undeniably beautiful but narratively unsatisfying.
A picture-book celebration of several kinds of trains.
Rhyming text opens with a passenger train “puffing, chuffing, never yawning, / Climbing hills as day is dawning.” A little white boy boards the train in the country, and then a black girl does in the city (their dress and the sleekness of the train’s carriage hint at a mid-20th-century American setting), but the book doesn’t merely follow them through the pages. Instead, a freight train pulled by an old-fashioned, black, coal-burning locomotive and then a circus train pulled by a cheerily red locomotive make appearances, and words and pictures work together to depict their separate journeys through different landscapes and in varied weather conditions. That all three of these trains coexist at the same time is indicated by simultaneous depictions of big, midcentury sedans and trucks at crossings and bridges. But aside from this fact and the fact that they are trains, there is little to link the three visual stories. The full-bleed oil paintings provide ample detail of the scenery for each journey, and they employ varying points of view to enhance visual interest. Ultimately, however, readers’ efforts to link the trains’ respective journeys will be stymied, which undermines the book’s cohesion. An illustrated glossary at the book’s end will likely prompt readers to look back at the pictures to identify specific train cars and other things associated with railroads and trains.
Undeniably beautiful but narratively unsatisfying. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-544-38074-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground.
A little red sleigh has big Christmas dreams.
Although the detailed, full-color art doesn’t anthropomorphize the protagonist (which readers will likely identify as a sled and not a sleigh), a close third-person text affords the object thoughts and feelings while assigning feminine pronouns. “She longed to become Santa’s big red sleigh,” reads an early line establishing the sleigh’s motivation to leave her Christmas-shop home for the North Pole. Other toys discourage her, but she perseveres despite creeping self-doubt. A train and truck help the sleigh along, and when she wishes she were big, fast, and powerful like them, they offer encouragement and counsel patience. When a storm descends after the sleigh strikes out on her own, an unnamed girl playing in the snow brings her to a group of children who all take turns riding the sleigh down a hill. When the girl brings her home, the sleigh is crestfallen she didn’t reach the North Pole. A convoluted happily-ever-after ending shows a note from Santa that thanks the sleigh for giving children joy and invites her to the North Pole next year. “At last she understood what she was meant to do. She would build her life up spreading joy, one child at a time.” Will she leave the girl’s house to be gifted to other children? Will she stay and somehow also reach ever more children? Readers will be left wondering. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 31.8% of actual size.)
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72822-355-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends.
Is it a stormy-night scare or a bedtime book? Both!
Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are heading home when a storm lets loose. Before long, their familiar, now very nervous barnyard friends (Goat, Hen, Goose, Cow, Duck, and Pig) squeeze into the garage. Blue explains that “clouds bump and tumble in the sky, / but here inside we’re warm and dry, / and all the thirsty plants below / will get a drink to help them grow!” The friends begin to relax. “Duck said, loud as he could quack it, / ‘THUNDER’S JUST A NOISY RACKET!’ ” In the quiet after the storm, the barnyard friends are sleepy, but the garage is not their home. “ ‘Beep!’ said Blue. ‘Just hop inside. / All aboard for the bedtime ride!’ ” Young readers will settle down for their own bedtimes as Blue and Toad drop each friend at home and bid them a good night before returning to the garage and their own beds. “Blue gave one small sleepy ‘Beep.’ / Then Little Blue Truck fell fast asleep.” Joseph’s rich nighttime-blue illustrations (done “in the style of [series co-creator] Jill McElmurry”) highlight the power of the storm and capture the still serenity that follows. Little Blue Truck has been chugging along since 2008, but there seems to be plenty of gas left in the tank.
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-85213-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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