Title: Choo Choo
Author: Virginia Lee Burton
Genre: Trains / Adventure / Classic / Drama
Year Published: 1937
Year Read: 2017Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Source: Library
Content Rating: Ages 5+ (One Scary Scene)
Buy on: Amazon // Book Depository
I have read at least two books from Virginia Lee
Burton when I was younger and they were “The
Little House” and “Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel” and I had enjoyed
both books immensely! So, I then picked
up another book by Virginia Lee Burton called
“Choo Choo” which was quite a unique
read and is one that I would definitely recommend for children!
The story is about a beautiful little locomotive named
Choo Choo who would pull trains from the city to the country and back again
every day. She was always accompanied by
three workers who were named Jim the Engineer, Oley the Fireman and Archibald
the Conductor who would all come together to take care of Choo Choo. One day however, Choo Choo was getting tired
of pulling trains in between the cities and the country and she decided to run
away from the station and show everyone in town how beautiful she really is!
What
sort of adventures will Choo Choo get herself into?
Read
this book to find out!
Wow! I never
would have thought that I would enjoy this book so much! Just like Virginia Lee Burton’s other works, this book has a classic and old
fashioned feel as we get to see how trains look like during the 1930s. I also loved the fact that this story has a
different twist to the usual children’s story about trains, as it details the
story about a young train running away from its owners, which I rarely read
about in previous books about trains. Virginia Lee Burton does a great job at
making this book both cute and exciting at the same time as I loved the fact
that Choo Choo’s owners really do care about what happened to Choo Choo when
she goes missing as it brings in a heartwarming element to the story. I was also sitting on the edge of my seat as
I wondered if Choo Choo was ever going to make it back home safely and I liked
the way that Virginia Lee Burton
detailed the dangers of running away from home as Choo Choo gets into all kinds
of danger on her travels and it would help teach kids about the dangers of
running away from home by themselves. Virginia Lee Burton’s artwork is quite
unique in this book as most of the images are in black and white colorings,
giving this book an old fashioned and bold feel and I also enjoyed seeing the
images of Choo Choo herself as she is drawn as a cute looking locomotive, which
strongly reminds me of the image from “The
Little Engine that Could!”
The only real issue with this book is that there is
one image in this book where Choo Choo ends up going through a scary looking
forest that might frighten smaller children. The trees are drawn in a much
eerier manner compared to the rest of the images and parents might want to go
through the images in this scene first to see if their children can handle such
scary imagery.
Overall, “Choo
Choo” is a truly cute book that children who enjoy reading about trains
will definitely get a kick out of! I
would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the image of the
scary forest might scare some smaller children.
You might also like:
- The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
- Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
This sounds like a super cute children's story. My nephew LOVES trains, so I bet he'd love this one. Great review, thanks for sharing!
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