Long Train: 101 Cars On The Track

Youngsters may lift the flaps to find the surprises that lurk within each of the train's cars.

Train-besotted readers will fall in love with this vibrant picture book as they learn to count all the way to 101. This looooong sturdy train carries 101 surprises in 101 separate cars--only by lifting the cardboard flap of each car will young readers discover just what is inside car number 4 or 53 or 99, from wheat to telescopes. This big rugged board book stretches out when opened to reveal a railroad track on brightly colored, varying landscapes, from cactus-strewn desert to snow-coated mountaintops. The train clickety-clacks along, pulling its eclectic cargo. Rhythmic rhyming text mimics the exciting tempo of a train on the move: "Only go forward... / ...never go back! / Clickety-clack! / Cars on the track!" The cars are packed with the mundane ("got doors") to the fabulous ("got a stretch limo for the CEO") to the fanciful ("got the moon"), each illustrated by the marvelous Ken Wilson-Max, of Big Silver Space Shuttle and Little Orange Submarine fame. (Ages 3 to 6) --Emilie Coulter