Thomas and the Treasure (Thomas & Friends)

Published in 2008, this Thomas book still uses photographs from the television show but now they seem to be better quality -- not murky and dull -- and many have small colorful bands (frames?) around them to set them off. A definite improvement in our opinion. The 3 stories you get are "Thomas and the Treasure", "Duncan's Bluff", and "Seeing the Sights". If you don't recall the plot of the title story, it's about Thomas' ingenuity in solving the riddle to a story that Salty tells. While everyone else rolls their eyes at Salty's yarn, Thomas takes the words to heart and unravels the clues. And in the end, he is rewarded when a real treasure is uncovered. In "Duncan's Bluff", Duncan and James come to loggerheads when the two engines disagree as to who works the hardest. Of course, this sets off a competition and when it looks like he is loosing, Duncan cleverly tricks James. But this little slight of track, backfires with unforeseen results. Finally, in "Seeing the Sights", Thomas gets so caught up in trying to compete with the powerful Gordon that he ends up doing a terrible job showing visitors about the island. This is a stop and smell the roses sort of story. The rose in this case being a delightful day at the beach. All in all a winner. Though I personally prefer some of the drawn Thomas artwork, this new photo format is very nice and the the stories are good, well written, and the book's bound to please your Steamie lover. Pam T~ mom and reviewer at BooksforKids-Reviews. com

There is something magical about Thomas that I didn't want to buy into at first - and now we're hooked. The story telling and characters are very well done. Each train reminds me of people I've actually worked with! My two year old loves the stories and the character voices I use. There are three stories: 1. Thomas and the Treasure (Salty tells Thomas of a lost treasure and Thomas follows clues to find it) 2. Duncan's Bluff (Duncan plays a coal car trick on James) and 3. Seeing the Sites (Thomas takes tourists to all the sites on Sodor after a challenge from Gordon). All in all very cute and smartly written for toddlers. Nice "realistic" photos too.