Seymour Simon's Book of Trains

by Seymour Simon

Overview

Award-winning science writer Seymour Simon's exploration of these very different trains and their uses, combined with his characteristically eye-catching full-color photographs, captures the beauty and power of steam trains, diesel trains, electric trains, and more—all at work! This nonfiction picture book is an excellent choice to share during homeschooling, in particular for children ages 6 to 8. It’s a fun way to learn to read and as a supplement for activity books for children.

Seymour Simon knows how to explain science to kids and make it fun. He was a teacher for more than twenty years, has written more than 250 books, and has won multiple awards.

This book includes an author's note, glossary, and index and supports the Common Core Learning Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780064462235
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/11/2004
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,059,130
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Lexile:	940L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 10 Years

About the Author

Seymour Simon has been called “the dean of the [children’s science book] field” by the New York Times. He has written more than 300 books for young readers and has received the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Lifetime Achievement Award for his lasting contribution to children’s science literature, the Science Books & Films Key Award for Excellence in Science Books, the Empire State Award for excellence in literature for young people, and the Educational Paperback Association Jeremiah Ludington Award. He and his wife, Liz, live in Columbia County in Upstate New York. You can visit him online at www.seymoursimon.com, where students can post on the “Seymour Science Blog” and educators can download a free four-page teacher guide to accompany this book, putting it in context with Common Core objectives. Join the growing legion of @seymoursimon fans on Twitter!

Editorial Reviews

Young trainiacs rejoice…Big machinery has never looked better. ” — Kirkus Reviews

“These are exactly the cool pictures for which the younger nonfiction set clamors.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“Simon captures the combination of technology and romantic adventure that gives these machines their enduring appeal.” — ALA Booklist

From the Publisher

These are exactly the cool pictures for which the younger nonfiction set clamors.

The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books

These are exactly the cool pictures for which the younger nonfiction set clamors.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Simon captures the combination of technology and romantic adventure that gives these machines their enduring appeal.

ALA Booklist

The author dedicates one spread each to various kinds of trains, from old-fashioned diesel trains to France's TGV, with a full-color photograph on one side and, opposite, a couple of paragraphs describing it. Ages 3-6. (May) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 4-Trains and individual freight cars are displayed in glorious full color in this oversized book. Simon offers information on different types of these machines from the earliest steam locomotives to France's TGV, which can reach speeds of 300 miles per hour. The section on freight trains delves into each car from boxcars to the now-obsolete caboose. The sharp pictures cover half of each spread. One small complaint is that while the TGV and Japan's bullet trains are mentioned, they are not pictured. But never mind. Even preschoolers will be drawn in by the large, abundant photographs. Another winner from a popular author.-Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Young trainiacs rejoice! The inimitable author of Seymour Simon's Book of Trucks (2000) offers a companion volume featuring the same sort of huge, bright, sharply focused color photos paired to succinct descriptive and historical commentary. Sandwiched between an attention-grabbing gallery of locomotive headshots and elevated closing views of a pair of crowded rail yards lit by a low sun, the author introduces rolling stock, past and present-from quaint cog railways to state-of-the-art bullet trains, plus an array of freight and tank cars. Simon continues to irritate lazy readers by refusing to caption his pictures; instead, he alludes to them in the accompanying text, adding anecdotes, detail, and background information in typically calm, orderly prose. Detail-lovers might wish to know just which trains they are seeing, and a bibliography or list of Web sites at the end would not have been amiss-but big machinery has never looked better. (Nonfiction. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews

These are exactly the cool pictures for which the younger nonfiction set clamors.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books