|
Publisher:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
Release
Date: September 2004 |
ISBN:
0374336792 |
Awards:
|
Format
Reviewed: |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Full-Color Picture Book [Ages 4 - 8] |
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer:
Jan Fields |
Reviewer
Notes: |
Copyright
MyShelf.com |
|
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.
|