Now we branch out a little. This book follows a passenger train on its day and night trip past favorite toddler icons like trees, houses, tunnels, and mountains. We have read this book to our children hundreds of times. Your two year old may carry it everywhere he goes. We're on our third copy.

Trains don't just go places, they carry things! Peek inside train cars, open doors and windows, and find hidden surprises. Packs more flaps into its pages than I've seen in any other lift-the-flap book. Mend the flaps with scotch tape when they rip, which they will.

Best 2.99 you'll ever spend. Tibor Gergely's detail-packed illustrations can be pored over for hours. My almost 2 year old sleeps with it, and my 4 year old can recite every word. Also, it's a real story with a plot, which is a nice change of pace, as so many train books are nonfiction.

Once my child carried a single engine sticker with him for a week. He fed it meals, told it stories, and had it "pull" all his toy train cars. It was a sticker from this book.

Great portable activity. Keep one around for doctor's offices, long car rides, restaurants. Dover has six different train themed sticker books. Be aware that the activity book stickers are very small! Kids three and under will need some help. Only the two labeled "activity book" include a laminated scene to play with the stickers on. The others just have stickers.

Delightful mayhem ensues when an engine runs away for the day. Charcoal illustrations are beautifully detailed, with little extras everywhere. I'd read Mike Mulligan, but missed this book by Burton when I was a kid. I'm so glad I found it now!