Prairie Train
Kindergarten-Grade 3-A girl travels aboard the Great Northern Railroad across the winter prairie to visit her grandmother in St. Paul. Rhythmic verses depict her experiences as she watches the scenery, eats in the dining car, and becomes nervous when the train gets stuck in a snowdrift. The language is descriptive, e.g., "The prairie is stitched together/in brown and yellow patches/like Grandma's quilt spread over the hills" or "The Great Northern is as quiet/as a frozen buffalo." The soft, realistic illustrations, done predominantly in earth tones, provide views of the child as well as the passing scenery, and clearly evoke the early-20th-century setting. These richly detailed pictures are fully integrated into the text, transforming an ordinary train ride into an exciting experience. A good choice for reading aloud.Margaret R. Tassia, Millersville University, PACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.