The Train Ride

"The Train Ride" by June Crebbin and Stephen Lambert. I bought this book for my granddaughter, Tabitha, after we had gone on a train ride from Plymouth to Boston, Massachusetts. She clearly recognized details of our actual train ride with the same elements in the colorful illustrations and the words in the book. She sat quite still as I read this wonderful book to her. The book's author has obviously chosen her words to echo the sounds of a train: "What shall we see? What shall we see?" And, as you read the book, if you throw in a couple of extemporary "Choo-choos" , you can set up a train sound in your reading. The colors of the illustrations are bright; seems like the originals were done in pastel chalks. My granddaughter noticed that the locomotive was red, which was not the color on the train ride into Boston. The dark black of the tunnel was scary, but, on the next page, all fears were relieved when the tunnel darkness turned the window into an impromptu mirror. Tabitha laughed at the page with the words, aa"gaggle of geese", and said "gaggle" quite a few times as she tried out this new word. She was most happy to find, at the end of "The Train Ride", there was Grandma (who looked quite a bit like Mommy), waiting for them at the station. This is a most entertaining book.

Using Jan Crebbin's book, The Train Ride, is a great way to engage early elementary age students in reading comprehension. Having read the book several times, children can choose their favorite image from the book and draw it. This can be made into a bulletin board at school or can just serve as an enriching parent-child activity. Seeing the images flash through the train window is a wonderful reminder of summer vacations and family trips. I am going to be using this book with my kindergarten class' back to school unit which is based on Watty Piper's classic, The Little Engine That Could. Another book to use with The Train Ride is Freight Train by Donald Crews. Hop aboard for some exciting reading with your young child.