Freight Train (board book)

The publisher says Donald Crews drew on childhood memories of trains seen on journeys to his grandparents' farm in the American South. Its description lists the train by car: a red caboose at the back, an orange tank car, a green cattle car, a purple box car, a black tender and a black steam engine. The publisher classifies it under Railroads and Trains and also under Counting and Numbers and Colors. Kirkus, assessing the original hardcover, describes a train that starts on an empty track with brightly colored cars behind a black engine, then passes through tunnels and a city and through day and night. The publisher labels the book both a Caldecott Honor Book and an ALA Notable Children's Book, and the ALA's own list of Caldecott Medal and Honor books includes Freight Train from Greenwillow.

The publisher describes simple, powerful words, vibrant illustrations, bright colors and bold shapes, and says that a child who has never counted freight cars will feel, after reading it, as if he or she had watched a freight train pass. The board book measures 6 by 5 inches and runs 26 pages, according to the publisher, which also says the sturdy pages suit little hands. Publishers Weekly, assessing the original edition, says the book ends with the train vanishing from the last page. The publisher also sells other formats of the same title: a Big Book, a Lift-the-Flap edition, and a bilingual Spanish edition called Tren de carga.

A parent or grandparent choosing a first train book in a small board format, who values an award-listed title and wants a book that names its cars. It suits families who prefer a picture-led concept book to a plotted story, for a child within the publisher's stated age ceiling of "to 4".

The Big Book (ISBN 9780688129408) and Lift-the-Flap edition (ISBN 9780063067141), both listed by the publisher, carry the same title in other formats if a board book is not the right fit. Santa and the Goodnight Train, a board book from Clarion, is the pick for a family that wants a story with characters rather than a concept book about a passing train.

Image: National Geographic (Penguin Random House) · source

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Image: Charlesbridge · source

Alphabet Trains

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Image: Lorenz Books / Simon & Schuster · source

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