Our Hot Topic "Go" section has plenty of picture books for anyone who is loco for locomotives. We also have nonfiction train books chock-full of facts, diagrams, and photographs (check in and around the 625.2s!)
"Chugga-chugga, clickety clack!" This rhyming picture book takes you on a cheerful tour of Alaska's unique environments and wildlife by way of the Alaska Railroad. The brightly colored and enticingly detailed illustrations are by John Joseph (illustrator of Little Blue Truck and many others.)
A train-loving little dog reads about trains, plays trains, and goes on a real train ride to visit Grandma. This is a perfect, understated book for toddlers, railroad aficionados, or otherwise.
A little girl brings a café of strangers together on an imaginary train ride. Punctuation, text size, and letter spacing help the reader crescendo and decrescendo the repeated refrain, "I can make a train noise!" to mimic the rhythm of a train going over bumpy tracks, through tunnels, and slowing down at the station. This is a train book that begs to be read out loud.
A little boy takes a nighttime journey from countryside to city on a Dreyfus Hudson steam engine. The simple rhyming text is lyrical and the grayscale images with increasing spots of color feel quiet and magical.
But this list is for train books that really make the reader a passenger. With rhythmic, repetitive text and hypnotic imagery of passing landscapes, these make great bedtime reads, too.
All Aboard the Alaska Train
Written by Brooke Hartman
Illustrated by John Joseph
Brooklyn, NY: Red Comet Press, 2024. Picture Book.
Written by Brooke Hartman
Illustrated by John Joseph
Brooklyn, NY: Red Comet Press, 2024. Picture Book.
"Chugga-chugga, clickety clack!" This rhyming picture book takes you on a cheerful tour of Alaska's unique environments and wildlife by way of the Alaska Railroad. The brightly colored and enticingly detailed illustrations are by John Joseph (illustrator of Little Blue Truck and many others.)
I Like Trains
By Daisy Hirst
Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2021. Picture Book.
By Daisy Hirst
Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2021. Picture Book.
A train-loving little dog reads about trains, plays trains, and goes on a real train ride to visit Grandma. This is a perfect, understated book for toddlers, railroad aficionados, or otherwise.
I Can Make a Train Noise
By Michael Emberley and Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick
New York: Neal Porter Books, 2021. Picture Book.
By Michael Emberley and Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick
New York: Neal Porter Books, 2021. Picture Book.
A little girl brings a café of strangers together on an imaginary train ride. Punctuation, text size, and letter spacing help the reader crescendo and decrescendo the repeated refrain, "I can make a train noise!" to mimic the rhythm of a train going over bumpy tracks, through tunnels, and slowing down at the station. This is a train book that begs to be read out loud.
Night Train, Night Train
Written by Robert Burleigh
Illustrated by Wendell Minor
Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2022. Board Book.
Written by Robert Burleigh
Illustrated by Wendell Minor
Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2022. Board Book.
A little boy takes a nighttime journey from countryside to city on a Dreyfus Hudson steam engine. The simple rhyming text is lyrical and the grayscale images with increasing spots of color feel quiet and magical.
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