Country crossing

This is a fantastic book. We have checked it out from the library repeatedly, and now I am buying a copy to to add to our family's collection of children's book. My two boys, ages 3 and 5, love this book. They love just about any book about trains, but what is so special about this one is the setting, the sights and more than anything, the sounds. As an adult, I too am captivated by how well the author has taken just a few moments in time and brought them vividly to life by describing the sights and sounds of this country scene. No words are spoken between boy and grandson; as readers we participate in this scene through the illustrations, the descriptions of the sounds before, during and after the train passes and our own imaginations. I highly recommend this book!

My 3 year-old son and I read this book every night before bed. The poetic tone and vivid descriptions are captivating. This is a wonderful book for train lovers as well as appreciators of quality children's literature. Ayelsworth and Rand have ensured that young ones will forever delight in the "clang, clang" of the railroad crossing.

It took 3 or 4 readings for me to start really loving this book, and my boys now ask for it often. It's such a simple tale---a father and son riding an old car at night on a remote wooded road, and a train going by--they stop at the crossing and watch it. However, it is told so well and the pictures are so peaceful (except when the train is going right by!) that you feel relaxed just reading it, and wish that somehow you could hop into the book and go to that long ago night and place. My 5 and 2 year olds listen with interest over and over to this book!

We first met this book in our house when my now nine-year-old was two, and it quickly became a favorite. I have bought it for many friends and school-room libraries, and the response is always as positive as our own. The way that Aylesworth uses his sentence structure and sound-effect words makes the reader move at a pace which corresponds with the story action. Reading it with children is always a fun adventure because they love to pick up on and "read" the sound-effect words like "splishhh" and "red on, red off." While it is wonderful for any "train" boy, it is a great book that cuts across gender lines. When we gave a copy of this book to my son's day-care center, the teacher would have the kids sit their chairs in a line and then the whole group would pretend that they too were a part of the story and train, with self-created hand signals for the sounds and little voices reciting each sound effect in unison. Definitely a must for any pre-schooler's library!

This has been the FAVORITE train book for my two kids. Excellent fun to read aloud. We've renewed it from the library six times.