Book Review: “Train” by Elisha Cooper

Age recommendation: 4 to 8 (though children of all ages can enjoy reading this with their families)

What Makes This One of the Best Children’s Books

Depending on where they live, many kids in America may never ride – or even see – a train in their entire childhoods. But with the help of Elisha Cooper’s riveting “Train,” they will gain a firsthand perspective of what it’s like to experience almost every kind of train used today. 

With a simple but delightful structure, this children’s book whisks readers along a comprehensive tour of trains, following the journeys of several modern-day railway vehicles. 

With the story delivering close-up peeks both inside and outside these clattering machines, readers feel like they’re on board with slowly chugging cargo trains, bustling commuter trains, roaring passenger trains, jostling overnight trains and more.

Along the way, the book explains the unique uses and features of each vehicle. Readers also steal a glimpse at the lives of passengers and the harried work of engineers, conductors, waiters and red hats (luggage handlers). 

Each page further introduces young readers to new words and writing techniques, as each train description comes loaded with rich imagery, clever similes and lyrical phrasing.

This book also provides readers with yet another gift. 

It not only offers a thorough tour of trains, but also of our country. The story follows its featured trains as they crisscross America, from the Grand Central Station in New York City to the Great Plains to a factory-packed city in the Midwest, to the Rocky Mountains and Western orchards and beyond.

Cooper’s vivid illustrations do justice to each location, with color-saturated depictions of city skylines, endless fields and snow-laden mountains.

Providing an informative glossary with train terminology, the book serves up even more intriguing train facts, like how some cargo trains stretch as long as two miles.

Whether kids harbor an innate interest in vehicles or not, this story will seize their interest by allowing them the rare perspective of traversing the country on winding tracks. 

They will close this book with a broader understanding of the role trains play in our modern world, and of how different our vast country looks from one station to the next.

How My Child Reacted to This Book

My preschool-age son, obsessed with anything on wheels, was wholly engrossed in this book. He pointed out numerous details in every picture, and eagerly asked questions about trains he hadn’t heard of before.

After our first read, he immediately asked to read it again, and afterward even made up stories about the trains and where they were headed. I predict this will become a longtime favorite.

Potential Conversations and Activities to Pair with This Book

Families can enjoy learning about both trains and America as they read “Train” together. 

To help kids understand the different regions of the country, families can read this book with a map or globe nearby, allowing them to trace the journey of the trains across America.

Families can also play a game where kids make up stories about various passengers in the book and where they’re headed, or about silly cargo on the freight trains and how it will be used.

Adults can also tell kids their own true stories of riding on trains (if they have any), to provide more examples of railway experiences.

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