And the Train Goes... (review)

All aboard! This splendidly baroque train is leaving the station, making its own rhythmic and inviting locomotive sounds ("Chuff-chuff, chufferty-chuff," "Clickerty-click, clickerty-clack") as cars of various passengers and cargo offer their own audio effects (the businessmen chant, "Time is money, time is money," the chickens cluck, "Cluck-cluck, cluckerty-cluck"). Finally we flash back to the station, where the station parrot nimbly runs through a reprise of all the sound effects and phrases from the train. Though the text missed a terrific opportunity by failing to make its sound effects cumulative or regular enough for audiences to begin joining in first time through, this will be a performance showpiece as a readaloud, and one could certainly add in a choral "Woo-woo!" or other element for audience interaction from the get-go. Illustrations are high impact (and somewhat reminiscent of Emberley's Drummer Hoff, BCCB 1/68), with the ornate train an Albert Memorial on rails and the carefully regularized computer-designed lines keeping the visual rhythm precise; deep hues, especially of a complementary red and green, add both heft and toylike appeal as the dry oddity of the human figures provides humor. This will be a rattling good trip for train-minded youngsters not yet able to muster interest in the willpower of Watty Piper's Little Engine That Could.