Trainstop

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Trainstop (eBook) Pub. Date: 4/7/2008 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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Trainstop (Library Binding) Pub. Date: 4/7/2008 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Overview

A ride on the train is exciting. There’s always something new to see, even if you’ve been there before.
But some train rides are better than others . . .

What if a train took you somewhere else entirely? What if the doors opened in a strange, new place? This is one train stop you won’t want to miss!

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In Lehman's (The Red Book) latest wordless fantasy, a young urban dweller's subway excursion with her family takes an unexpected turn. Much to the girl's surprise, the train magically arrives in an idyllic countryside, where it is flagged down by a tiny, toylike figure. Hopping off (all the grown-ups are dozing), the girl discovers a Lilliputian world in need of a hero: one of their number has crashed his propeller plane into a fruit tree. The girl neatly rescues the aviator, then hops back on the train home with no one the wiser. A horizontal format supports the train theme and reinforces the visual storytelling. As in Lehman's previous works, the crisp, clean drawings and comics-style framings generate visual momentum; the author knows when to give the big picture (literally) and when to break down the action into smaller steps. Kids should enjoy following this story to the very end of the line, where the surprise on the final spreads asks readers to reconsider what they've seen earlier; and it brings an element of mystery, or at least a playful challenge, to the way readers look at the world around them. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)

Children's Literature

This is a fun wordless book about being helpful when you least expect it. What begins as an ordinary train ride for one young lady (maybe 10 years old) turns into a rare encounter that will be remembered for a very long time. In the midst of a clearing, the train suddenly stops and the doors open. Our young lady notices small people in distress who are urging her to help them. Having nothing to lose—since the train is not going anywhere for a while—she leaps off to follow the cluster of small people who have gathered to secure her assistance. What she finds is one young lad dangling by his shirttail on a branch, seeming to have been ejected from his airplane. The Lilliputian-like villagers cannot reach that high, but it is a small stretch on tiptoe for the girl. Sadly, she is just a few inches too short to rescue the pilot. If only she were taller—but wait! Someone has an idea. Together, the two of them are heroes. The train is now ready to depart, and the girl must leave her new friends. Back to the city she rides, but on her way home she is greeted by the one she rescued and presented with a small token of gratitude: a green plant. Lehman's illustrations are vibrant and uncluttered, making the story that much easier to "tell." The final page leads one to believe that her new small friends may have shown themselves to others in her neighborhood—check out the few familiar trees shown on other rooftops. The book easily lends itself to interpretation on many levels, from the girl's reason for being on the train to the activities of the small people to everyone's feelings, and even to speculation about her conversations with her parents! This is one train stop you willnot want to miss. Reviewer: Elizabeth Young

More Reviews (2) Fewer Reviews

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2- In this wordless picture book, illustrations done in watercolor, gouache, and ink present the fanciful story of a child's train trip. A girl and her parents board a subway that travels aboveground through a cityscape and then plunges into a tunnel. When the train again emerges into the light, the window suddenly reveals a view of a green countryside with houses and a windmill in the distance. A man wearing striped pants and holding a straw hat brings the train to a halt with a long, bannerlike flag. The child disembarks and is welcomed by a group of miniature people. They lead her to a tree where a plane and its presumed pilot are entangled. With help from a little person, the youngster rescues both the plane and pilot. Waving good-bye, she returns to the train and eventually disembarks with her parents at their urban home. The pilot and a friend fly to her building, giving the girl a gift to commemorate her adventure. The plot of the narrative illustrations is easy to follow. The artwork varies in size from six panels per page to full spreads. The characters' facial features are kept to a minimum, but the placement of dot eyes, dot noses, and line mouths clearly presents their emotions. Lehman's simple fantasy offers a positive lesson on helping others that will stretch readers' imaginations.-Lynn K. Vanca, Akron-Summit County Public Library, Richfield, OH

Kirkus Reviews

A little girl takes a fantastical train trip in this wordless outing from the creator of other such cozily surreal offerings as The Red Book (2004) and Rainstorm (2007). Gray city yields to perfect green countryside, the magical transition signaled by a four-panel sequence that finds the girl looking out the window at the passing city and the black blur of a tunnel and then, looking back in from the outside, her delighted face. A signalman stops the train, and she alights into a landscape inhabited by wee, toy-sized people. Lehman employs the visual language of serial storytelling in masterly fashion, framing her initial panels within the curvature of the train window; as the adventure expands, scenes outside the train appear within square panels or bleed to the edges of the page, allowing the protagonist and her teensy new friends limitless freedom. After rescuing a Lilliputian pilot from a tree, the little girl re-boards the train and heads back to the city-to which comes unexpected color with the gift of a tiny tree, delivered by a familiar toy plane. Comfortably mind-bending. (Picture book. 4-8)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780618756407
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date: 4/7/2008
Format: Library Binding
Pages: 32
Sales rank: 375,224
Age range: 4 - 8 Years
Product dimensions: 11.00 (w) x 7.75 (h) x 0.13 (d)

Meet the Author

Barbara Lehman has illustrated many books for children. Born in Chicago, Barbara attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where she earned a BFA in communication design. A full-time illustrator, Barbara says, “Books and art have always held the strongest attraction for me. I have always felt drawn to ‘commercial art’ because of its ability to reach many people. I like the idea of being part of the media in a meaningful and thoughtful way, especially with children as the audience.” She now lives in Philmont, New York.

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nycmamaEH

Posted December 12, 2009

good for train-obsessed toddler

good illustrations. there's no writing, so it allows us to tell the story in our own words. my son really likes it...
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