Product Description

"Clear bright illustrations show all the cars of a train bringing the reader the excitement of movement through day and night, country and city."--Booklist.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15615 in Books
• Published on: 1996-09-20
• Released on: 1996-09-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Board book
• 26 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780688149000
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Presented in blocks of brilliant colors, the multihued train in this Caldecott Honor book undertakes a dazzling journey before disappearing from the final page. Ages 2-up.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Donald Crews is the renowned creator of two Caldecott Honor books, Freight Train and Truck. Among his other enormously popular books are such favorites as Night at the Fair, Sail Away, Bigmama's, Shortcut, and School Bus. He and his wife, Ann Jonas, live in New York's Hudson River Valley.

Donald Crews grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and says that all through his childhood the members of his family were always doing something with their hands. He was always drawing pictures. Now, in the old farmhouse where he lives with his wife, the noted author and illustrator Ann Jonas, Donald Crews is still drawing pictures.

After graduating from New York City's Cooper Union, Mr. Crews spent three years working as a designer. He was assistant art director of Dance magazine, on the staff of a small design studio, and did freelance work as a book-jacket designer. But in 1962 he was inducted into the Army, and for a time his artistic pursuits were set aside. As the end of his eighteen-month military stint in Germany approached, he assigned himself to the task of writing and illustrating a children's book to add to his portfolio. The result was the brilliant concept book We Read: A to Z (Harper & Row, 1967), which, nearly twenty years later, was reissued by Greenwillow Books. Ten Black Dots, a counting book, came next, and then several books for which he did illustrations only. But the turning point came in 1978, when Greenwillow published Freight Train, a picture book inspired by Mr. Crews's childhood train trips from Newark to visit his grandmother in Florida. It was named a Caldecott Honor Book. Since then, Mr. Crews has created several other highly acclaimed picture books (including Truck, a 1981 Calclecott Honor Book), all painted in the flat, clean colors and bright, unambiguous shapes that are the hallmarks of his striking graphics.

When Donald Crews is asked why he focuses on picture books, he frequently answers, "Why not?" All the tools necessary for the creation of any piece of art are also elements in a successful picture book. Mr. Crews chooses a subject, explores ways to develop the subject visually, writes a story, then produces his finished illustrations. And the final audience, the children, tell him that they like what he does. Why not, indeed!

Customer Reviews

Beautifully designed, a must-have children's book
My 16-month-old son loves trains, and we have read many train books. Freight Train is his favorite (and has been his favorite book for the last two months). The illustrations are spare and clear, use primary colors, and have enough detail that my son finds some new train hardware to point at each time we read the book. As the train moves, its different-colored cars blur together for a nice visual effect.

A must-have for little train lovers
Simple text describes 4 different types of freight cars, the caboose, the tender and the steam engine. The six basic colors plus black are used for each car and therefore this is an ideal way to teach colors to the little train-lover. Very fast read and my son pleads me to read it again. I don't mind, as this is not aggravating in any way (as some of the board books are). Sturdy board book construction. Great book!

Little ones love the rhythm of Freight Train when read aloud
This book has short phrases on each page, and the entire story reads like a non-rhyming poem. I believe that the rhythm of the verses, along with the clear bright illustrations, is what drew my son to this book, even at 10 months old. For his 3rd birthday recently, I made train decorations based on the illustrations in Freight Train. He still enjoys the book and now "reads" it to himself. Preschoolers can easily memorize this wonderful book.