Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: September 2004
ISBN: 0374336792
Awards:  
Format Reviewed:
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Genre:   Full-Color Picture Book [Ages 4 - 8]
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Jan Fields
Reviewer Notes:  
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Jingle the Brass 
By Patricia Newman
Illustrated by Michael Chesworth

      Librarians will tell you that there are some subjects that young readers will ask for again and again. One of these subjects is trains. In Jingle the Brass, author Patricia Newman lets a grizzled train engineer takes a young boy on a trip through the wonderful world of rainroad slang. This book isn't just talk, of course, as the boy rides aboard the steam engine and even gets to "jingle the brass" to let the rear brakeman know they're leaving the station. Readers will learn about everything from the names of the different train cars (hog to caboose), to such exciting things as cornfield meets (head on train collisions), and hoboes trying to "nail her on the fly" (hop aboard when the train is moving.) My four-year-old found the book a bit too challenging and got a bit frustrated, even though she loves trains, but she loved it as a looking-at book. I suspect this might work better for slightly older train-lovers. It's a challenging read-aloud with all those unfamiliar terms, but the wonderful characterization, and Michael Chesworth's charming, detailed illustrations, will make it a trip worth taking. If you've got a young train lover in your house -- he'll love Jingle the Brass.