C Is for Caboose: Riding the Rails from A to Z

Pack your bags for an unforgettable trip! An unexpected mix of vintage illustrations and contemporary photos makes this word book about trains as entertaining to look at as it is to read. With simple information about everything from the transcontinental railroad to the model trains, C Is for Caboose is sure to excite young readers' natural curiosity and fill their heads with details they'll be eager to share.

This alphabet book, geared toward the same age group that adores Thomas the Tank Engine, offers fuel to stoke the engines of young railroad buffs. Reflecting the book's primary focus on historical rather than contemporary train travel, the design evokes a scrapbook, featuring mostly small, framed images and mixing retro-style artwork with archival photos and vintage scraps (like old tickets). Some of the entries may seem ho-hum to train enthusiasts--L for locomotive, for instance--but others offer colorful, kid-pleasing trivia: children will want to think about how the car-connecting "knuckle coupler"came by its name (it resembles two clasped hands) and will be fascinated by the mobile classrooms, under S for school car, "for students who didn't have schools in their hometowns." Several entries stretch to connect to the train theme, and the absence of dates and descriptions in the list of image sources is a shame. Notwithstanding such missteps, train-loving browsers will still find plenty of solid material here to savor. Jennifer Mattson
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