Steam Train Ride

I'm buying this book because I checked out a couple of books for my almost-2 son on trains and this was the one out of the batch that he liked the most. The text doesn't impress me much, but the photos are good and I can paraphrase the text. I add in the noises as much as fits the photos and he is totally engrossed.

High quality photographs accompany a story of a young boy (looks 3 years old) who goes on steam train ride alone. The journey goes from buying the ticket to disembarking. Each step of the journey is documented in the numerous photos and explained in detailed text. The boy is treated to more than just the ride; he converses with train employees who explain in detail information such as how the steam engine works, the names of the various train worker positions (fireman, etc.) and explains what their job is. Different train signs are shown and their meaning is explained. As the train ride begins the boy gazes out the window and gazes at the passing scenes of farms and Amish people. The photos are of the Strausberg, Pennsylvania steam train ride. My only negative comment is I find it strange and unrealistic to have a 3 year-old all alone on this entire journey, from buying the ticket by himself, to the ride, to disembarking. Where are the parents? I would have rather had them along on the trip as a family experience.There is a good amount of detail about trains and their inner workings compared to other books published for this age range. I appreciated this as my two young train lovers are eager for information and real photos about trains vs. the many beautifully hand illustrated fictional works about trains that are already available in the picture books published for 4-8 year olds. There is a good amount of text here, about 4 sentences per page, and 32 pages. This captivated my 2-year-old train lover (despite publishers age recommendations). ... I highly recommend this book for train lovers, but beginning at age 2 not 4 as the publisher recommends.If your child yearns for more information, I suggest that you move up to non-fiction that the publishers deem for 8-11 years old or even to read aloud books published for adults. Use your child's interest level not a publisher's guideline. Even if you can't read every word in the book due to the child wanting to turn the page to see different pictures, just read what you can get to and what they want to hear. I recommend "Cross section train", "Eyewitness:Train" and "Railways and Trains" published by Usbourne books for non-fiction with much detail, all are published for the 8-11 age range.

My 2 boys really enjoy this book, and love all the details of running a steam train. I'm not really sure, however, that kids who are not extreme train lovers would like it as much---there isn't much going on except the viewing of the train and all the train related signs and stations! But there are plenty of big time train lovers out there! We've been to Strasburg, where this is set, and this book makes the boys want to go back!

Our train-obsessed three-year-old likes to read this one over and over. He identifies with Christopher and likes to examine the photographs of the train closely. We have yet to find a book that shows the fundamentals of running an actual (as opposed to illustrated) steam engine as well as this one. He especially likes the water tower and fireman pictures. This book is a great way to show how the real "Thomas the Tank Engines" work. Good basic bedtime (or other-time) story, especially for the train-obsessed. We have since ridden the train depicted in the book, and the excitement was not measurable!