Thomas' Big Storybook (Thomas & Friends)

Wow! This book is quite the bargain in Thomas book terms. It contains 6 books, 4 stories each, at a great price. Besides the value this book provides, the major selling point, in my opinion, is that the font and the pictures and the book itself, are considerable larger than in the original paperbacks. And what Steamie lover wouldn't like that. In addition, the inside cover of the book has a huge 2-page picture of Thomas and his coaches. The down side to this particular group of books is that they are from RandomHouse's "Please Read to Me" collection which doesn't have the highest standards when it comes to making stories coherent. If you look around, you will note that it is a frequent complaint of mothers and dads that the stories are choppy, with jumps in the plots. That said, I think children who are familiar with the television shows won't be bothered by this choppiness at all, simply because they already know the stories. The other complaint of parents and adult readers everywhere is the nasty tone that some of the stories portray. And lets face it, times have changed to the extent that we shield very young children from name calling and 'just desserts' type of themes. We don't, afterall, want them copying this behavior. My approach was to just change the language I didn't like. But you might have your own methodology; I just think it needs to mentioned. The books that are contained within are: Edwards Exploit Thomas Gets Tricked James in a Mess Trouble for Thomas A Cow on the Line Diesel's Devious Deed The copy that I am reviewing came from the library and is a hardback that was probably bound by Perma-bound so I can't really address the sturdiness issue. Pam T~ mom and reviewer at BooksForKids-reviews

This book contains 24 stories (from the books Thomas Gets Tricked, Trouble for Thomas, A Cow on the Line, James in a Mess, Diesel's Devious Deed, and Edward's Exploit). They aren't my family's favorite Thomas stories, but it is a good value. I think some of these Thomas stories aren't really what I would like to read to my preschooler--I don't like the themes of "you get what's coming to you" and wickedness/naughtiness that is so common in Thomas. It seems there is a divide among parents of Thomas fans, and some (like me), don't really agree with the underlying philosophy of some of the books (and shows, too). But when I'm reading to my son I just modify the things I don't like. Thomas has done wonders for my son's imagination and playing (with the Wooden train sets, etc) and for wanting to read, too.

We checked this book out of the library for my 2 1/2 year old. He loves it so much we had to buy it. There are many stories involving many many engines, so this is a great value for the money.

my 5 year old was very excited to have so many Thomas stories in one place. although i dont LOVE all the stories, they are certainly fine. a must have for a thomas lover.