Review: Little Red Train Busy Day

Little Red Train: Busy Day

Written and Illustrated by Benedict Blathwayt

Publication date: 2008
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 978-1-862-30193-1

Summary/Back cover:
Click-clack, clicketty-clack, chuff-chuff,  chuffity-chuff...
The Little Red Train is in for a busy day!  There's post to deliver, rails and sleepers for a new track, a flock of sheep for Hilltop Farm, and lots of passengers for Barnacle Bay!
Keep your eyes peeled - there's lots to see and find on the journey!  Spot familiar landmarks along the way and see if you can follow the Little Red Train's adventures on the map.


Review:
This is definitely a boys' book - my 2.5 year old is absolutely mad about trains, and this book suits him perfectly.  Apart from the story about Little Red Train's activities for the day, there's also labels on various train parts throughout the book, teaching the reader parts such as pistons, boilers, guard's van, etc.

The illustrations are quite busy, but are great to sit and point out interesting things on - so it can take quite a while to read this book.  I enjoy seeing what my son will find each time we read it though - all the usual suspects come out first (train, digger, dog), but then he'll delve more into the details, and find such things as rubbish that ought to be in the bin, a sunflower patch, and a cake in the guard's van.  Sometimes he is able to tell me what these things are, and sometimes he asks "What's that?" - so it gives me an opportunity to build on his language skills.

My rating: 4 out of 5 - quite a blokey book, and not really a story book as such, but a great book to study and talk about.


Review written by Bronwyn