THE WHISTLE ON THE TRAIN
by Margaret McNamara & illustrated by Richard Egielski
A modern intercity train takes its passengers from the big city to Littleville and beyond to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus.” Egielski’s bright, cheery cartoons provide views of the passengers inside the train and of the train itself as it travels over trestles, under overpasses and through tunnels. The pop-up technology allows for a fair degree of visual drama—a head-on glimpse of the locomotive and another image of the train snaking through a tunnel are particularly effective. As the tableaux open with each turn of the page, the book lacks the interactivity of Paul O. Zelinsky’s The Wheels on the Bus (1990), but it should prove highly popular in storytime. (Pop-up/picture book. 2-5)