Starred review from March 11, 2013
Like this team’s bestselling Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site, this vehicular bedtime book revs up before winding down, and both text and art smoothly transition from stimulating to soothing. A train stops at the “Night Falls” station to pick up its animal crew, who energetically load the train: acrobatic monkeys carry monkey bars onto a boxcar, rabbits bounce aboard on pogo sticks, a polar bear fills a refrigerated car with giant ice cream sundaes, and leaping kangaroos toss balls into a hopper (“The crew hops to it, one and all—/ they get to work and have a ball!”). Rinker’s verse assumes a gentler lilt as the weary animals are pictured tucked into bed—on flatbed cars, fittingly—and the train is seen “Puffing, chuffing out of sight.../ Steam train, dream train.../ chhhhhh... goodnight.” Rendered in wax oil pastels, Lichtenheld’s moonlit illustrations have a lovely luster and a rich texture reminiscent of chalk drawings, using various shades of blue to evoke a magical midnight setting. A go-to goodnight story for train- and animal-loving preschoolers. Ages 1–6. Agent: Amy Rennert, Amy Rennert Agency.
March 15, 2013
"Through the darkness, clickety-clack... / coming closer, down the track..." The night train is arriving; it carries an unusual cargo and an even more surprising crew. Darkly lit pastel illustrations reveal monkeys, kangaroos, an elephant and various other animals, all of whom are ready to load freight appropriate to their eating habits, anatomy or abilities into a variety of different, named railroad cars. Rhymed text full of onomatopoeia describes the monkeys packing bananas, monkey bars, hula hoops and a sock monkey into the boxcar. Kangaroos toss balls into the hopper, and elephants squirt different-colored paints into tankers. Whimsical, dreamlike imagery continues as a polar bear loads a giant ice-cream sundae onto the freezer car, while the tortoises drive race cars onto an autorack. While it's not a strikingly original selection, a feeling of warmth and an old-fashioned nursery aura both abound here. Train and animal enthusiasts alike will enjoy the gentle action and may just drift off as the train fills up and the animals go to sleep, safely tucked in on flatbed cars that hold...beds. "Steam train, dream train... / chhhhhh...goodnight." A solid companion to Rinker and Lichtenheld's Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site (2011). (Picture book. 3-6)
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Starred review from June 1, 2013
PreS-K-From out of the midnight darkness comes a mighty train heading to Night Falls station. With clouds of steam hissing from the smokestack and brakes squealing, it comes to a stop and the animal crew jumps out, ready to load up the cars with freight. A rambunctious bunch of monkeys fills the boxcar with toys while kangaroos toss balls into the open-topped hopper car. Purple elephants use their trunks to fill the tanker cars with different colored paints as a polar bear and penguin put giant ice-cream sundaes in the reefer car. After such a hard night's work, the crew beds down on the flatbed car, ready for the steam engine to fire up and take them to dreamland. The strength of this book is in the striking spreads in wax oil pastel. A vast night sky is filled with sparkly stars and large billowing clouds that frame the oncoming train traveling through a realistically silhouetted landscape, while the animal crew looks strangely toylike, as though made of plush and plastic. It is not until the final spread that this incongruous bunch, and this whole dream, is explained by a nighttime look at a young train lover's bedroom. The beginning and end of the book are filled with expressive and enjoyable railroad sounds, yet the rhyming text loses a bit of steam in the middle, describing but not always enhancing the activity depicted in the illustrations. Still, this is a book that will, like its predecessor, Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site (Chronicle, 2011), be embraced as a nighttime standard, particularly among train lovers everywhere.-Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from May 15, 2013
Preschool-K *Starred Review* Rinker and Lichtenheld hit pay dirt with Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site (2011) and follow that success with another rhyming bedtime adventure full of sweet surprise. A train pulls into Nightfalls Station to be loaded with cargo, and page by page, different animals stock a series of cars, each with items suited to their species (rabbits load pogo sticks, polar bears load ice cream). When the cargo is complete, the train departs, and we see it circling the floor at the foot of a child's bed in a pool of moonlight. The romantic rhyming text ( Through the darkness, clickety-clack . . . / coming closer, down the track . . . / hold your breath so you can hear / huffing, chuffing drawing near ) never refers to the animals by name, allowing the audience to make the clever matches on their own. The different train cars, with the technical name for each given in slightly bolded typeface, add special appeal for young railroad aficionados. Working in vivid oil pastels on dark gray paper, Lichtenheld captures the luminous magic of dreams set against the endless dark of nighttime, while also adding a touch of comedy with his grinning, cartoony animal characters. Kids will clamor for this one at bedtime and storytime alike.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)
February 15, 2016
This spin-off of Rinker and Lichtenheld’s bestselling Steam Train, Dream Train takes readers from one to 10 as they check out the activities taking place in a string of train cars. The events pictured in Lichtenheld’s humorously detailed images aren’t always terribly sleep-inducing—three rabbits bounce on a bed, four turtles pretend to drive race cars on a rack—but Rinker’s soothing rhymes exert a steady, calming presence: “Two squirrels stack six balls up high,/ two other balls go flying by,” she writes as kangaroos play basketball in a hopper car. Available simultaneously: Steam Train, Dream Train Colors. Up to age 2. Agent: Amy Rennert, Amy Rennert Agency.
July 1, 2013
This bedtime story from the Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site creators is another gem powered by well-crafted rhymes. This time it's a train yard that needs to be packed up for the night, and animals are the crew: a polar bear fills the reefer with ice cream, a monkey juggles toys into the boxcar, etc. The calming midnight-blue-bathed illustrations glow as if by starlight.
(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)