My Brother's Train - Hardcover

Kindergarten-Grade 3. Bright-hued, soft-focused paintings illustrate a story of a cross-country journey by train in which a young girl and her older brother are, for the most part, the only passengers. The train is followed by a mysterious, giant figure of a trainman who assures their safety and helps them to return home. It may be a dream, or perhaps the boy is playing a game of let's-pretend with his sister, or perhaps it is just a half-remembered event of childhood for at the end of the line, the youngsters arrive at their great-aunt's house at the seashore. The blues and purples of night and mountains, the greens and yellows of daylight landscapes suggest time and distance and enhance the girl's narrative of the long trip. Both the story and the illustrations attempt to capture and re-create the excitement and magical quality of a child's first experience of train travel. While they succeed in that purpose, the book seems more an exercise in adult nostalgia than a story that would be enjoyed by children.?Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.