Genre
Bedtime stories
Picture books for children
Stories in rhyme
Illustration
Fanciful
Inventive
Subject
Bedtime
Children
Night
Railroads
Sleep
Train rides
Trains

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss. ( )

If you are paying attention to cadence, then this story ends too soon. It’s a fine story and children will love the illustrations. They rhymes work even when interrupted with sound words. This book isn’t bad, but not one I would replace when the library copy gets worn. ( )

great rhythm and rhyme ( )

While this book does not carry as cargo a profound message, nor does it have the world's most intricate illustrations or elegantly-crafted language, this book is on my shelf because it represents an experience. Books and reading--surprise, surprise--have always been so important to me. Because of this, I have been so committed to introducing my children to literature at a very, very young age.

I started reading to both my son and my daughter before their eyes could even focus on the pictures adorning thick, cardboard pages. This book was one that I read night after night to my son, my firstborn, as a baby. It was perfect for him because he loves trains and he loved all the train sounds and the lyrical quality of the rhyming couplets that comprise the story line. And me? I loved holding him in my lap and reading to it to him, mimicking every train sound with enthusiasm. I loved that at the end, when I read the last lines, "Goodnight, train, goodnight" and added a "Good night, Carter, good night," he always knew it was time for sleep and would hop down, once he could, from my lap and toddle over to his bed, lift up both pudgy arms, and wait to be lifted into the crib.

him, this book represented comfort, love, and safety. For me, this book represents all of those experiences, but also the start of learning and the beginning of a life-long relationship with reading. It also represents the way in which reading can be not just an experience, but a shared one. Reading allows us to connect with our loved ones in such a special way. So this book on my shelf represents an invaluable parenting experience for me. And years from now, when my son's little body has stretched tall and he can no longer climb into my lap, I will see this book on the shelf and remember the baby and the little boy he once was. I will think about how, even though it will have become a distant memory, these experiences, and this simple, cardboard book about a train riding off to sleep, will have helped to shape the young man he will have become. ( )