Trains at Work

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4-Possibly mistitled, this photo essay concentrates as much on chocolate and sugar production as it does on the workings of trains. Ammon describes the role of trains in the process of making the deliveries, but that concept almost gets lost with so much space devoted to the manufacturing processes. Passenger trains are barely mentioned. The opening sentence, ``Trains rush across America,'' is a bit misleading since far more run up and down the coastal regions than travel cross country. The large print and easy vocabulary make the text look appealing. The information is accurate and clearly explained. Full-color photos of average quality fill or nearly fill each page. The handsome cover does little to help salvage this meager offering.-Eldon Younce, Harper Elementary School, KS

Christie Sylvester

Although it's hard to imagine trains as an ingredient in chocolate bars, they are, according to Ammon, an integral part of the candy-making process. Large color photographs show a freight train bringing sugar and cocoa beans from shipping warehouses to the chocolate factory, and other pictures show dockworkers loading and unloading the freight, dispatchers monitoring the tracks, the chocolate being mixed, and a train pulling a flatcar loaded with the finished chocolate product. The pictures are of good quality, and Ammon integrates interesting facts about train operation--for example, how cars are sealed at the warehouse and how trains stop--as the story proceeds.