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Title: Choo Choo
ISBN: 0395479428
Author:
Virginia Lee Burton
Publicate Date: 1988-04-25
Publish: 1988-04-25
List Price: $6.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $3.10
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.45
Amazon Merchant Price: $6.95
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Great looking book, but hard to read aloud
I found this book in a public library in Japan and borrowed it to read to my 3 year old son. He has a strong interest in trains, so I thought this could be a good break from the daily grind of Thomas the Tank Engine stories.
The story is about a steam engine named Choo Choo who hauls passengers, mail, and baggage to and fro. She has a dream to be free from her monotonous life and to be admired for her speed and grace. She finally gets the chance to run without a load and ends up running out of control. Her patient engineer and conductor find her and bring her home safely. She learns a lesson and doesn't wish to run off alone anymore.
The story bears a striking resemblance to Stop, Train, Stop! a Thomas the Tank Engine Story (Beginner Books(R)). That is another story where a train decides to run away as fast as it can in order to impress onlookers. I can't help but think that the Thomas version is based almost wholly on the Burton story of Choo Choo.
The charcoal art is amazing. Each page is illustrated with a smoky charcoal sketching that makes the old-timey-ness of the story come to life. The greasy, dirty, smoky world of steam locomotives becomes a real-live place to readers of this book.
The quaint "Once upon a time" beginning was a little strange, but soon forgotten. However the layout of the text itself was something I could never get over. The shrinking of each line of text into a cone, or the lines shaped in waves made reading aloud difficult. It is easy to read ahead, but much of that skill also relies on visual cues from the text itself. I found myself tripping over certain phrases due to the unorthodox text. The clever textual layout may add artistic merit to the book, but it detracts from the book as a read-along.
That said, it's a fun book with lots of train sounds for kids to catch on to. The story teaches that one shouldn't go off without a good plan, but also that loved ones are always there to help you when you need help.
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2: First 'real' book our Very Active 2 year old will sit through in entirety!
My 3rd son loves trains much more than my 1st who loved them a lot, but...although he doesn't have a ton of words yet and is only starting to put 3 or more words together can tell you the entire plot of this story...fills in the word missing if you stop for a second...points out people in the book as his cat, his grandma, etc...it has everything a train loving kid could ask for including another favorite with sounds and farm animals! Great classic...hope they come out with a board book for those nights when you really need to get them to bed!!! or to take in the car!!!
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3: Cassette is useless, but the story is delightful
Choo Choo the runaway engine is a delightful story that mesmerizes three to four year old boys who like trains. Our son asks for this volume each night.
As with all of Virginia Lee Burton's books, the illustrations are delightful, here all rendered in charcoal, which is strangely appropriate for the "shiny black engine" at the center of the story.
The story is simple and easily understood by little readers, and they can pick out some words and map them to the illustrations. There is nothing objectionable in the tale, involving an engine who wants to break free of her responsibilities and run away to be the center of attention. Her engineer, conductor, and coal-man all work hard to chase her and bring her back, and she learns the lesson that running away from those who care for you typically ends in disaster.
We bought our edition in London, without the cassette, which strikes me as a bit datted in this CDROM and DVD era.
Highly recommended.
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4: Train Loving Sons will Love it, but it's Lengthy
My train-loving son really enjoyed this book many times but we never bought it because it takes a little while to read it. Some nights when you're trying to hurry up the bedtime routines it feels like a very, very long time to read it.
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5: My 25 month old love this book!
Now at 32 months, he loves it even more. He can recite the entire book page by page. He knows the names of the characters and their jobs. He confirms that the "coal car fell off the bridge onto the barge and now the train derrick picks it up." all the sketches are black and white and quite unique. i recommend this book for all ages, boy or girl.
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