Train Song

Here is the song of the train. Listen as it rushes past big cities and small towns. Listen as it sweeps through forests and fields and into tunnels. Hear the whistle wailing, brakes squealing, wheels rolling, r-o-l-l-i-n-g, stop. Now the train is homeward bound. All aboard!

Notable Children's Books of 1991 (ALA)
Best Books of 1991 (SLJ)
100 Favorite Paperbacks 1994 (IRA/CBC)
Notable 1990 Childrens' Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
Children's Books of 1990 (Library of Congress)
Favorite Paperbacks for 1994 (IRA/CBC)

Rhymed text and illustrations describe the journey of a transcontinental trains.

Here is the song of the train. Listen as it rushes past big cities and small towns. Listen as it sweeps through forests and fields and into tunnels. Hear the whistle wailing, brakes squealing, wheels rolling, r-o-l-l-i-n-g, stop. Now the train is homeward bound. All aboard!

Notable Children's Books of 1991 (ALA)
Best Books of 1991 (SLJ)
100 Favorite Paperbacks 1994 (IRA/CBC)
Notable 1990 Childrens' Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
Children's Books of 1990 (Library of Congress)
Favorite Paperbacks for 1994 (IRA/CBC)

Publishers Weekly

From boxcars to diners, from rural towns to city stations, the intriguing world of trains is evoked in this stunningly illustrated poem. As with Heartland and Truck Song , Siebert does not tell a story so much as present stunning images: the ``great trains / freight trains / talk about your late trains / the 509 / right on time / straight through to L.A.'' roar through tunnels and across the countryside. While the syntax and rhythms of the poem are not always immediately clear, Siebert's eclectic assemblage of details allows the reader to ``feel the rhythm'' and ``hear the sound'' of the trains. Wimmer's luminous, nostalgic paintings will enable readers to grasp the beauty and power of the trains and the landscape across which they travel, ``clickety-clacking / homeward bound.'' Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Diane Siebert is the author of Mojave, a 1988 Booklist Children’s Editors’ Choice, a 1988 Notable Children’s Trade Book in Social Studies, and a 1989 Teachers Choice, and Heartland , a 1989 Booklist Children’s Editors’ Choice, a 1989 Notable Children’s Trade Book in Social Studies, and a 1990 Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts. Ms. Siebert lives at Crooked River Ranch, Oregon.