Picture Book of the Day: Steam Train, Dream Train

Picture Book of the Day:  Steam Train, Dream Train, by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld

Tom Lichtenheld simply is one of the best illustrators working today.  Everything from his glorious "you can do it" tale Cloudette to his rollicking collaboration with Chris Barton, the hilarious  Shark Vs. Train, delights.  Throw in his books with Amy Krouse Rosenthal (including the mind-teasing Duck! Rabbit!) for more fun.  Steam Train, Dream Train works wonders as a bedtime story and a celebration of trains.  This cozy, atmospheric story serves as a worthy follow-up to the very successful Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site, also by Lichtenheld and Sherri Duskey Rinker.  In Steam, a dedicated animal crew works on the night shift on the railroad.  A nice, bumpy, bouncy rhyming text mimics the sound of a moving train.  Lichtenheld's illustrations capture the antics of hard-working monkeys, dinosaurs, elephants, and others who engage in tasks that appeal to young readers (the hopper car is being loaded with basketballs, the reefer car with ice cream!!!).  Of course the animals become very very sleepy after such a hard night's work and they all start drifting off to dreamland.  Perfect for train storytimes, animal storytimes, and pajama time storytimes.