THE TRAIN TO GLASGOW

Cox reinforces the antique flavor of this droll bit of verse (first published in 1954), depicting with disheveled brushwork a lad in short pants, running to catch an old-fashioned train, then lending a hand when the lock on a cage full of chickens fails. Horsbrugh builds up the tale cumulatively, but abandons that conceit near the end as, to repay young Donald McBrain for recapturing the errant fowl, the train’s guard “invited Donald to come to tea / On Saturday at Donibristle, / And let him blow his lovely whistle, / And said in all his life he’d never / Seen a boy so quick and clever.” Poet and painter are popular in the UK (Cox has had some work published here); Anglophiles who haven’t encountered either on this side of the pond will enjoy this quaint introduction. (Picture book. 6-8)