The Yellow Train (Creative Editions)

Theo and his grandpa take a nostalgic train ride through time.

PreSchool-Grade 2-One night, Theo goes on a mysterious journey, "unsure of where I was going and more unsure of what might happen," and meets up with his grandfather in a train station. The robust gent shows the child the small Yellow Train for which he had been the conductor a "long, long time ago." The two embark on a secret trip, across "rolling plains" and to the "beginning of the world," where a Yeti pushes them out of a snowdrift and Snake People on painted horses chase after them. Theo even gets a chance at the controls. Back at the station, Grandfather explains that, ironically, the men and supplies he once transported had helped to create the puffing factories that eventually outgrew the need for the little engine. He bequeaths the Yellow Train to Theo, who awakens in his bed, clutching the keys. Comparisons to Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express (Houghton, 1985) are inevitable. There are the highly textured, atmospheric scenes, rendered on dark paper, featuring sleek '30s trains. However, Van Allsburg's book is more subtle, more tightly constructed, and has seasonal appeal; whereas this one is curiously static. Still, train enthusiasts will enjoy the large, vertical format and the changing perspectives of the iron horse.
Wendy Lukehart, Dauphin County Library, Harrisburg, PA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

All routes lead to stunning vistas in this rail-riding fantasy originally published in France. "One dark night" a boy joins his conductor grandfather on Grandpa's Yellow Train. As the duo steams across the country, the boy sees the landscape of the past, vast and undevelopedAthe way the land looked before Grandpa and his train helped to settle it. A Yeti helps push the Yellow Train through snowdrifts; the slightly more ominous-looking Snake People, heavily painted men on horseback, give chase. But by story's end, the boy is snug in bed, and awakens clasping the keys to the Yellow Train and remembering the secret midnight ride with his grandfather. Highet recalls similarly themed voyages like Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express and Paul Fleischman's Time Train in this adaptation of a work by Fred Bernard. The text's dreamy tone and stop-and-start pacing pull readers into the unusual, imaginative trip, but a few holes in the plot are sure to provoke questions. Roca's striking, oversize paintings suggest advertising posters of the 1930s and '40s. His dusky palette and dizzying perspectives result in larger-than-life images of mountains, skyscrapers and jungle greenery. Ages 7-up. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 5-8. One night Theo embarks on a magical journey aboard the Yellow Train with his grandfather at the controls. Years before, Grandpa explains, he traveled on the train to wonderful places," places the two now revisit. Their trip takes them back to a time when there were no trappings of industrial civilization. Ironically, the grandfather admits, it was his beloved train that helped destroy the natural world by transporting the materials and men who built the cities and factories. Can things be changed? At journey's end the grandfather gives Theo the keys to the train, and the next morning the child awakes to find them clutched in his hand. Was it a dream? The fable seems forced, but it offers a wonderful excuse for French artist Roca's extraordinary art deco illustrations, which add scope and vision to the slender plot and echo the work of William Joyce and Chris Van Allsburg. Michael Cart
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