Steam Train, Dream Train

Steam Train, Dream Train
by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld
Chronicle Books, 2013. Unpaged. Picture Book.

I couldn't quite get the drift of this steam train because I didn't pay attention to the dream train part, but kids will understand that what at first seems to be a circus train eventually carries race cars and dinosaurs. Just about everything a child could possibly want in a train cargo rides on this dream train: monkeys, kangaroos, a giraffe as a lookout, an ice cream car with every flavor. The train itself is dreamy, an old-fashioned locomotive crossing the prairie on a moonlit night. Tom Lichtenheld's illustrations are luminous and deeply appealing. Not quite up to the standards of Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site, this book should still find a spot in the hearts of young train and animal lovers, of whom there are many.

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