All Aboard the Dinotrain

by Deb Lund, Howard Fine (Illustrator)

Overview

They stoke the boiler, stow the luggage, and when hills are steep, they even get out and push. That's right, the thrill-seeking daredevil dinosaurs from Dinosailors are back, and now they're riding a train. But this train is more like a roller coaster—up, down, and faster and faster, until the dinos realize the brakes are out!

Laughs and thrills abound in this rip-snorting tale of reckless reptiles and their runaway train.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547248257
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/16/2009
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	675,721
Product dimensions:	8.25(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.12(d)
Lexile:	AD500L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Deb Lund has written several picture books, including Monsters on Machines. She also rides a unicycle, teaches writing, and loves to visit schools. Deb lives in Greenbank, Washington.

Howard Fine is the illustrator of many popular picture books. He lives with his family in White Plains, New York.Visit his website at www.howardfineillustration.com.

Editorial Reviews

"The rollicking, rhyming text is great for reading aloud. Fine's playful, colorful dinosaurs are remarkably expressive and full of child appeal....And with such subject matter as dinosaurs and trains who could go too far wrong?" - School Library Journal —

From the Publisher

This follow-up to Dinosailors follows the transportation-crazed reptiles as they work on and ride the rails. Once the dinocrew (wearing jaunty railroad caps) has loaded up the train with "Coal and lumber, oil and grain" and the prehistoric passengers have boarded (they ride atop the cars since they're far too big to fit inside), the train departs from its station on the plains and heads for the mountains. Fine renders his scenes of goofy, grinning and occasionally overall-wearing dinosaurs with a hilarious sense of skewed elegance-the painterly brushstrokes and luminous, almost romantic pastel hues make the pictures seem like natural history museum murals as imagined by a daft paleontologist. As in the first dino-tale, the journey soon devolves into a series of comic mishaps. At one point the scaly fellows get out to push the train (" `We think we can!' they dinosay"), and they end up soaking wet and huddled together on a single handcar for the trip back home, swearing, "We'll never take another train..." However, they hint that their traveling days are not over ("But how about a dinoplane?"). While not quite as rollicking an adventure as Dinosailors (or as gross), there's plenty of slapstick fun in these pages, and Lund shows no sign of exhausting her supply of dino-hybrid words (a "dinostoker" shovels coal while the train's engine "coughs and dinochugs") Whether youngsters are fans of trains, T-rexes or both, they'll find this outing dino-mite. Ages 3-7. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 2-The adventurous reptiles from Dinosailors (Harcourt, 2003) are back, this time boarding a train-as foreshadowed in the ending of the previous adventure. The stage is set by the endpapers, which depict the "dinocrew": the Stegosaurus is the conductor, the T. rex is the porter, etc. Engineer Brachiosaurus is appropriately clad in striped overalls and denim cap. After loading the train, the dinosaurs are ready for action, yet a series of misadventures awaits. Too heavy, they "dinopush" and later jetty the "dinofreight." After happily soaring through a tunnel, they enjoy the "roller-coaster dinoride"-until they have a harrowing incident with a missing bridge, leaving them "dinoflying" into a lake. The crew returns home for hugs, vowing never to board a train again. The final pages show the creatures looking curiously at a plane-. Though there is perhaps an overabundance of "dinowords," children will delight in them. The rollicking, rhyming text is great for reading aloud. Fine's playful, colorful dinosaurs are remarkably expressive and full of child appeal. The large scale of the book and the dynamic, dramatic quality of the pictures make it well suited for storytime sharing. And with such subject matter-dinosaurs and trains-who could go too far wrong? Although similar to John Steven Gurney's Dinosaur Train (HarperCollins, 2002), this book will be welcome in many collections.-Robin L. Gibson, Granville Parent Cooperative Preschool, OH Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

In this hilarious new brouhaha, the prehistoric gang of Dinosailors (2003) return as train hoppers. Readers meet the crew on the endpapers before they set off: "The dinoboiler builds up steam. / Soon pistons pump a rhythmic theme." The locomotive begins teetering under the weight of the enthusiastic giants, so with a nod to The Little Engine that Could, " 'We think we can!' " they dinosay." The glorious paintings show off the dinosaurs in candy colors, some in their scaly hides, others sporting hats or coveralls. They travel through majestic mountains and vast plains. They reach dizzying heights, take swooping plunges and whiz through dark tunnels. But glee turns to fright as the adventurers spy the collapsed bridge ahead and discover the brakes are kaput. As they catapult off the edge and into the river, they decide that next time they will take to the friendly skies. Tails over scales better than John Steven Gurney's Dinosaur Train (2002), this is an ingenious combination of heart-thumping fun, romping dinosaurs and thrumming trains. This dinobook is definitely on the right track. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews