Trainstop
PreSchool-Grade 2—In this wordless picture book, illustrations done in watercolor, gouache, and ink present the fanciful story of a child's train trip. A girl and her parents board a subway that travels aboveground through a cityscape and then plunges into a tunnel. When the train again emerges into the light, the window suddenly reveals a view of a green countryside with houses and a windmill in the distance. A man wearing striped pants and holding a straw hat brings the train to a halt with a long, bannerlike flag. The child disembarks and is welcomed by a group of miniature people. They lead her to a tree where a plane and its presumed pilot are entangled. With help from a little person, the youngster rescues both the plane and pilot. Waving good-bye, she returns to the train and eventually disembarks with her parents at their urban home. The pilot and a friend fly to her building, giving the girl a gift to commemorate her adventure. The plot of the narrative illustrations is easy to follow. The artwork varies in size from six panels per page to full spreads. The characters' facial features are kept to a minimum, but the placement of dot eyes, dot noses, and line mouths clearly presents their emotions. Lehman's simple fantasy offers a positive lesson on helping others that will stretch readers' imaginations.—Lynn K. Vanca, Akron-Summit County Public Library, Richfield, OHCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.