Trains don't sleep

This handsome picture book reassures readers that trains are on the job, night and day. Beginning before dawn, the light narrative introduces a blue passenger train, then a freight train, and then a circus train, following each across several broad, double-page spreads before returning to the blue train that evening. It stops at a station to let passengers disembark before gathering speed and moving on across the moonlit countryside. Rosenbaum's rhythmic, rhyming verses make good use of evocative words and sounds: Puffing, chuffing, never yawning, / Climbing hills as day is dawning. / Trains don't sleep they CLANG and HOOT, / Reaching stations on their route. Painted in oils, the lovely soft-edged illustrations feature rounded forms, pleasing compositions, and a sensitive use of light. Children will enjoy pointing out the people and animals that appear in more than one scene, particularly in the passenger train and circus sequences. The attractive glossary features 15 small pictures of details from previous pages, along with definitions for terms such as boxcar, hopper, and tender. A well-crafted tribute to trains.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2017 Booklist

PreS-Gr 1-Trains roll by throughout the seasons, at night and during the day, and set against backdrops that vary from nature scenes to urban settings. In the beginning, viewers see a passenger train followed by a freight train, a steam train, and even a circus train. Holding the random scenes together are a girl and a boy getting on at different stops, befriending each other during the ride, and waving goodbye as they part. The rhyming text is rich and rhythmic-"Rumbling, grumbling, screech and squeal,/Rolling, trolling wheels on steel." The softly hued images in oil on paper are uncomplicated and inviting, ranging from close-up scenes to wide landscapes, set during the early to mid-20th century. A simple, illustrated glossary is appended. VERDICT Sure to be a hit with train fans. Best shared in small groups or one-on-one.-Gaye Hinchliff, King County Library System, WA © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A picture-book celebration of several kinds of trains. Rhyming text opens with a passenger train "puffing, chuffing, never yawning, / Climbing hills as day is dawning." A little white boy boards the train in the country, and then a black girl does in the city (their dress and the sleekness of the train's carriage hint at a mid-20th-century American setting), but the book doesn't merely follow them through the pages. Instead, a freight train pulled by an old-fashioned, black, coal-burning locomotive and then a circus train pulled by a cheerily red locomotive make appearances, and words and pictures work together to depict their separate journeys through different landscapes and in varied weather conditions. That all three of these trains coexist at the same time is indicated by simultaneous depictions of big, midcentury sedans and trucks at crossings and bridges. But aside from this fact and the fact that they are trains, there is little to link the three visual stories. The full-bleed oil paintings provide ample detail of the scenery for each journey, and they employ varying points of view to enhance visual interest. Ultimately, however, readers' efforts to link the trains' respective journeys will be stymied, which undermines the book's cohesion. An illustrated glossary at the book's end will likely prompt readers to look back at the pictures to identify specific train cars and other things associated with railroads and trains. Undeniably beautiful but narratively unsatisfying. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

This handsome picture book reassures readers that trains are on the job, night and day. Beginning before dawn, the light narrative introduces a blue passenger train, then a freight train, and then a circus train, following each across several broad, double-page spreads before returning to the blue train that evening. It stops at a station to let passengers disembark before gathering speed and moving on across the moonlit countryside. Rosenbaum's rhythmic, rhyming verses make good use of evocative words and sounds: "Puffing, chuffing, never yawning, / Climbing hills as day is dawning. / Trains don't sleep—they CLANG and HOOT, / Reaching stations on their route." Painted in oils, the lovely soft-edged illustrations feature rounded forms, pleasing compositions, and a sensitive use of light. Children will enjoy pointing out the people and animals that appear in more than one scene, particularly in the passenger train and circus sequences. The attractive glossary features 15 small pictures of details from previous pages, along with definitions for terms such as boxcar, hopper, and tender. A well-crafted tribute to trains. Copyright 2017 Booklist Reviews.

PreS-Gr 1—Trains roll by throughout the seasons, at night and during the day, and set against backdrops that vary from nature scenes to urban settings. In the beginning, viewers see a passenger train followed by a freight train, a steam train, and even a circus train. Holding the random scenes together are a girl and a boy getting on at different stops, befriending each other during the ride, and waving goodbye as they part. The rhyming text is rich and rhythmic—"Rumbling, grumbling, screech and squeal,/Rolling, trolling wheels on steel." The softly hued images in oil on paper are uncomplicated and inviting, ranging from close-up scenes to wide landscapes, set during the early to mid-20th century. A simple, illustrated glossary is appended. VERDICT Sure to be a hit with train fans. Best shared in small groups or one-on-one.—Gaye Hinchliff, King County Library System, WA