The Little Train
by Lois Lenski
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Book Summary Information
Author: Lois LenskiBrand: Books
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-10-24
ISBN: 0375810714
Number of pages: 56
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Book Reviews of The Little Train
Book Review: Five stars for hardcover; four stars for board book.
Summary: 5 Stars
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"!
Summary of The Little Train
Mr. Small does it all!In this adventure, Engineer Small drives his little train from Tinytown to the city-and back. Along the way, the little train passes tunnels and stops at stations to pick up cargo and passengers.
Presented in full color for the first time, Lois Lenski's The Little Train will delight a whole new generation of readers as they learn all about the ins and outs of a working train.
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