The Little Train (Lois Lenski Books)

I’m excited to have a copy to give to my train-loving toddler. I purchased one labeled “very good” condition, but the binding is coming apart and one of the pages is torn. I would consider this “good” at best.

Another great Lois Lenski book. (This one and Cowboy Small are our favorites.) My son was 2 when we started reading all the train books we could find. This one and Chugga Chugga Choo Choo (by Lewis and Kirk) are our picks for best toddler train books. Both can be read over and over and over without getting boring, and this one is actually educational, as well as fun.

We keep getting this book from the library and it's so informative - much more information about how trains work and such compared to Thomas books. Our 3 year old boy is a train fanatic and this book is even fun for ME to read to him because I learn right along with him. We study the pictures and he can point out the semaphores and he even takes what he has learned about how the train fills up with water to his toys. When he plays with his GeoTrax, he is using his imagination along WITH the factual things he has learned in this book. It's a must read - at LEAST from the library, but that just won't cut it for us, we need to purchase it!

This review covers both the board book (ISBN 037582264X; 32 pp.; c. 2002) and hardcover (ISBN 0375810714; 56 pp.; c. 2000) editions of *The Little Train* by Lois Lenski. *The Little Train* was originally published in 1940 and hails approximately from the same era as Awdry's "Railway Series" (known to most children today as Thomas the Tank Engine stories). The level of detail in the original picture book will please the most ardent of youthful train fans: from the parts of the steam engine, to the coal hopper and water tower, to the roundhouse and turntable, to the semaphores (signals) and siding, etc. By today's standards, the illustrations may seem old-fashioned, but there is a certain charm to the depiction of the countryside and railway scenes that isn't found in today's train picture books. The story focuses on a steam engine's journey from Tinytown to "the city," led by Engineer Small, Conductor Little, and Fireman Shorty. The text is lengthy and prosy in comparison to today's picture books, and is probably best suited to 4 year-olds and older (or very attentive and train-obsessed 3 year-olds). However, my 25 month-old train freak will happily sit through the story at least once, but that's probably because he's the spawn of two librarians. The board book is an abridged version of the original hardcover, and is only 32 pages in length (compared to the original 56 pages). About a third of the illustrations are omitted, and others are cropped. The colors are a bit different from the 2000 reissue--for example, the passenger cars are more of a reddish hue (like the 1 train on the NYC subway), rather than orange brown. Engineer Small is still the main character, but Conductor Little and Fireman Shorty are not even mentioned, although they do appear in the abbreviated story (it's actually Conductor Little who checks his watch, not Engineer Small). Most of the details about the steam engine and railway are summarized or omitted altogether, which was disappointing to my 25 month-old son. He was accustomed to the longer version that we'd borrowed from the library. This simplified board book version is suitable for 1-3 year-olds, and the youngest of railfans who want to graduate from Donald Crews' *Freight Train* or Byron Barton's *Trains*. Five stars for the original version, and four stars for the board book edition. As the tagline goes, "And that's all--about Engineer Small"!

I have twin babies, 21 months old, a boy and a girl, who adore this book. They had never seen trains before, but after two days being read this book, they point to it and say "choo-choo", and anytime a train comes up on one of their videos, they identify it. Furthermore, there are lovely incidental details on every page which they can point to upon questioning (where's the horse? Where's the bridge?), which is a positive thing for intellectual growth at this age. A perfect toddler classic.