Trains Go by Steve Light

Trains Go by Steve Light is a fast-paced addition to a toddler or preschool story hour about trains. This board book is filled with bold, solid colors and quick, easy to read text full of onomotopaeia. I never realized that trains could make such a wide variety of sounds.  Don't make this the central book to your story time, though; it is just a little bit too short.

The illustrations for this board book are artistically executed, but still easy to a access for a younger toddler-aged crowd. And the letters of text are just as easy to look at as the pictures. Each train picture conveys a sense of motion and movement, and some of the pictures practically fly off the page. Since this book is short, you could read it aloud once, then invite your other children to read along with you. The illustrations are over-sized and easy to see.

Steve Light has also written a book called Trucks Go. I read this one to my son and neither of us felt the love for the truck book like we did reading the train book. Trucks Go follows a similar format with the same stylized illustrations made up of bold, chunky shapes in primary colors. But unlike the train version of the series,which I read during my story hour, the truck sounds were less distinctive, less memorable. Still, if you only have access to the Truck version of this series, I would go with it and use it anyway, though not as the main event.

My mother-in-law taught me a cute song to sing with children you are trying to herd around in a classroom setting. the song helps kids to stay in line, but could be a fun story hour movement exercise if you have room to move around in the library.

"Choo, choo the big train is coming down the track
choo, choo the big train is coming down the track
stop, look, and listen
stop, look, and listen
choo, choo the big train is coming down the track

Read this book with

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo by Kevin Lewis and Daniel Kirk would be a good pairing for a train themed story time. More train sounds with a toddler-themed story. For kindergarten and up, you might consider reading the classic children's story The Little Engine that Could. This children's story about the power of persistence and never giving up, is long for toddlers. All children are different, these guidelines are based on my experience and on the children in the areas where I was a story time presenter. Ultimately you are the best judge of what works for you.