Trains and Railroads Books

A good book about the rail road, Ambrose doesn't write with the same passion as he does Lewis and Clark. New insight (for me) into the Big 5 in California.

'Nothing Like it In the World' by Stephen Ambrose

As usual, Mr. Ambrose delivers his straight forward, from the gut narrative of the construction and story behind the story of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad - a feat that inarguably changed America in profound ways. Meet the colorful characters who forced this project through, by sheer force of will and gain better perspective of the magnitude of labor and sometime exploitation of workers, particularly the Chinese. The financiers & government officials come through in this work in all their glory and shame - some deserved, others less so.

The power of the undertaking and dangers the workers faced, who truly are the main characters of this story, are exhibited in a voice as gravelly as that of Ambrose's own. The sheer enormity of this amazing feat is laid bare for the reader to digest and one is left feeling the passion of the original thought leaders of the RR down through the graders, spike drivers and general laborers who in an amazingly brief period of time changed the course of of American history in ways completely unseen.

If there is anything lacking, it would be the story of the Indians who are described as often terrorizing the railway workers to the point where men had to arm themselves for personal safety. The context of the Indians' story is lacking in this book, however, the argument could be made that it is an entirely different story. For that important component I would suggest, perhaps Dee Brown's 'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee'.

All in all, the reader is taken back to pre-Lincoln presidency and carried through all the subsequent sweat and toil until the last spike was driven ....and American commerce and transportation and direction changed forever. It's well worth your time and no matter your thoughts on Stephen Ambrose, he'll always deliver an easily readable, passionate account of his subject matter. 'Nothing Like it in The World' is no exception. I highly recommend this book to anyone even remotely interested in American history or the old West.

American dreams, greed, courage, innovation and daring make this a wonderful story of an event that changed the face of this country forever...

An Interesting book to read, a wonderful arrangement of facts. Once read you feel like you were alive during the building of the Transcontinental railroad, and had been following its progress in the local paper.

I "read" this as a book on tape. I had this on my Mp3 player for quite awhile because I thought, "Railroad stories are boring!" But, I found that not to be true. Imagine a time when the "fastest" and "easiest" way to travel across country was by wagon, horse, and oxen going 20 miles a day! Then, you find out about a "train" that goes 18 miles an hour and you can just sit there and let it carry you and your stuff for hundreds and even thousands of miles! You don't even have to push your wagon over any rivers! You'd be pretty excited...yea! Then, there's these two Railroad Companies that are competing to see who gets the further in a given amount of time. The further each company lays track the more their profits in terms of land grands and fares will be. The only problems are that they have to tunnel through about 8 mountains, fight off angry Indians, build bridges over streams and rivers and fill in ravines, and get all the supplies and workers out into the wilderness so they can lay the tracks. Plus there are "the personalities" of the leaders and workmen to contend with not to mention how to finance the operation that will take about 6 years to complete at full speed. Yep, it's quite a story! Read it either in print or as a book on tape. Email: boland7214@aol.

A lot of times I read a Timothy Zahn book in a matter of days. With this book it took me a few weeks. It just kind of drags along. Frank Compton is a kind of a fed up ex-operative who is definitely the best character in the story. Some of the people in it are really wooden. That is explained when we find out what's really going on. But Zahn takes too long to get there. The last 100 pages are entertaining, but I had to work hard to get to it. Don't be deceived by the title either. They never make it to Rigel. If you've never read any Zahn, I'd recommend you start with something like The Cobra Trilogy or Manta's Gift

I just finished this book, which I enjoyed very much. I am astounded to see all the poor reviews. I can't imagine they all read the same book.

This is the first book by Zahn that I have read, so I have nothing else to compare it to, or to feel that part of this book is a repeat of any of his other books. I also was not expecting anything heavy or mind blowing. This story is obviously a fun romp melding mystery-on-a-train, space opera, military SF with a bit of noir for flavor. It was a fabulous page turner.

The story was quite gripping, with many twists and turns. There was just enough foreshadowing to alert the reader to things not being what they seem, without giving it away. There were layers upon layers of mystery, and good tension between the two main characters.

The mystery on a train, was the setting that ran through the whole story. It was well done, not only as transportation from one local to another, but as hideout, and setting of some parts of the adventures. The main characters, humans, meet and interact with many alien species on the train.

Besides the main mystery that sets the story in motion, there is the mystery of the Spiders, the Quadrail itself, and what and who the two main characters are, and what other secret aims they are trying to achieve.

The Space Opera portion is the many alien species, and the sprawling galactic civilization that connects them all. We meet many aliens, and learn a bit about them as people and about their species. The civilization and how it all works is often discussed, but there are hints of other explanations. Zahn works all the details in without using an infodump, and makes an interesting tapestry.

There is also a bit of military SF with commandos and battles, along with the noir. The action moves the story along without overpowering it as some are wont to do.

It reminds me of some of CJ Cherryh's early stuff. The writing is good, the story interesting, and the characters are strong. The ending was satisfying, and wrapped the story up, but I would like to see this as the start of a series.

Set in a future galaxy in which interstellar travel takes place via the "Quadrail" which is a giant network of faster-than-light trains - yes, trains - running between solar systems. Spaceships are used only to travel within a solar system, e.g. between planets and the point in an inhabited system where the quadrail station is located.

The quadrail was built 600 years ago and has been operated since then by a mysterious race nicknamed the "Spiders" who are part organic and part machine. Until now they have always tried to stand aloof from politics between other races. Apart from the spiders, there are twelve other intelligent races recognised as major powers by virtue of having at least five inhabited systems: the human United Nations, with exactly five worlds, is one of the least significant of these twelve powers.

The story is told in the first person by Frank Compton, who used to be a top investigator for "Western Alliance" intelligence until he was fired for blowing the whistle on the bogus reports which had been used to justify the colonisation of Yandro, earth's fourth colony and hence the one which got UN officials the status of being a recognised empire.

Frank has just emerged from a meeting at which he was offered a new job, when he is accosted by a young man who has just enough remaining strength to utter Frank's name before dropping dead with multiple bullet wounds. The message which the man has given his life to deliver brings Frank to the Spiders, who want him to investigate a threat to both the Quadrail and the Galaxy. They tell him that someone, they don't know who, appears to have found a way to smuggle warships through the Quadrail and is preparing to launch a war.

Frank and his assigned partner, Bayta, who appears to be a human female but is very strange, begin to investigate. They soon begin to discover evidence of a vast and dangerous conspiracy which appears to threaten the entire galaxy - but is it the same as the one the Spiders warned about? And does Frank have a conflict of interest?

Frank and Bayta are soon enmeshed in a complex web of intrigue in which nobody and nothing, including Frank and Bayta themselves, is quite what they seem.

I had a little difficulty suspending disbelief in one or two of the ideas in this book - for example, how a railway network between the stars could be flexible enough to cope with the fact that stars move,and that the transfer stations would either have to orbit those stars or tend to fall into them. Once I'd got past that point and into the story I found it an entertaining and interesting read.

Most of the other plot ideas are not as original as the idea of an intragalactic railway, although they way they are put together is unusual. I didn't feel the charactisation was as good as this author usually manages.

Overall "Night Train to Rigel" is not up to the same level of brilliance as the best of Zahn's recent work such as "Warhorse", "Deadman Switch", or "The Icarus Hunt." However, I thought it had a lot more going for it than some of the strongly negative reviews here make out, and I did enjoy reading it.

I've read at least 6 books by Zahn. All great. But I couldn't finish this one. I don't care what happens to these characters.

I found this book based on the SCI FI ESSENTIAL BOOK tag, as well as having read the Heir To The Empire trilogy numerous times.

Alas, I found this book to be plodding, inconsistent, and just plain boring. It attempts to be a sort of futuristic Raymond Chandler-Noir story. I think it failed at this.

I admit that I have not read much of his non-Star Wars material; maybe I had to lofty expectations for Zahn. Whichever, I can still fall back and appreciate that man purely on his past work.

this book seemed like it would at least have train schedules that would be useful in planning your trip, but while it has a few they are useless. use the swiss or german rail website and rick steves and the lonley planet book to plan your trip, skip this one!

As of yet, I have not journeyed through Europe. My desire when I get there is to go via rail. This is an excellent guide to help you plan you travels through the country. Where to go, where to stay and what to see and do. Since I have yet to go to Europe, I can not attest to this books reliablity. Though from what I have read, seems to be quite insightful and full of help for a visit.

you probably just bought a Eurail pass and are looking for more info how to coordinate your european vacation as far as rail traveling goes. stick to your pass and a basic guide. you do not need this. the timetables are completely off. not one even matched. european train stations are so organized and easy to follow that you don't need a guide to tell you where to find an atm machine, an exchange office or a travel agency. as soon as you step out of the trains you'll clearly see signs directing you to the right places. i never thought it would be so useless, esp. if you are doing a backpacking trip. those day excursions that are sudgested from the "base" cities only direct you to tourist traps. i would avoid buying this book if i had the choice again. stick with a Lonely Planet guide. in my opinion the only publisher that tells like it is. Lonely Planet's Europe on a Shoestring or Let's Go Europe give you most of the info that is provided in this book and way more on top of it. stick to your pass and the timetable that they give you with it. you don't need this book.

I recommend you not buy it unless your interested on only the major cities and express travel (and you're too busy to get the same information from [a website]).
A disappointment in that it has no local train schedules. Earlier Eurail books (1980' and 90's) had much more data on train stations along the way. The fun for me is in staying in a smaller village and catching a 15 -20 minute train to city center to see its churches, museums and architecture. Other than the travel times, this book tells us nothing we don't already know; i.e., for sight seers there are frequent trains(usually every hour-sometimes two)to all major citys....

I bought this book because I had the 1990-91 Edition and wanted updated information. I found the 2001 material to be so similar it was laughable. The base cities are the same, the excursions were the same, the 'how to' information was identical to the edition ten years earlier. I found little if anything to be new, fresh, or informative. The book was a huge disappointment.

This book is perfect for anyone just getting into the World of DCC. Mr. Strang makes it very easy to understand DCC. I read it before i started helping to wire the layout of the club i belong to along with a club member who has been in DCC for quite sometime. If you want alot of indepth information this book is not for you but it will help you get started. You want more indepth information on DCC go with one of the other DCC guides but you should start out with this guide first.

I was very disappointed in this book. It was sorely lacking in content, mostly it was like reading a big ad for a single model of DCC equipment. I was looking for something which would give more than a general overview of the DCC system. Coverage on the accessory DCC capable options would have been nice. After getting this book I had to still go to the internet and research; this book should have been my reference. I would suggest that you wait until version 2 or maybe 3 of this book before buying it, maybe then they might even add a table for the CV values and what they mean for a decoder.

This is not a book that will teach somebody all the aspects of DCC. Instead, it is a simple primer that gives the basics. It does so in a clear and logical manner that is easy to understand. A person could conceivably wire up a railroad layout after reading this book (probably with lots of luck and attention to the manufacturers documentation) but that would not be wise. A person should do some more in depth planning. This book will not help with that.

The strength of this text is to give an introduction to the subject to somebody who knows nothing about it. The basic understanding gleaned from that should help to determine if further effort is warranted. In my case it is. I will probably keep this book handy for a while until I become more familiar with the tracks and the products but I will soon graduate to a more substantial treatment. Still, this exactly fit the bill for what I needed as a beginner who knows nothing.

A good book, very helpful for begin in DCC sistem control for model railroaders.

there is no information giving. it took me 2 hours to finish whole book, which is less than 50 pgs.
dont buy it

We are not intimately familiar with the "Thomas" franchise, but my son selected this book from his preschool library and I read it to my children that afternoon. We were treated to random point-of-view shifts, under-developed storylines, confusing chains of events, and pathetic moralizing. I only read the first story aloud, as the kids lost interest. I read the other tales to myself in the manner of someone unable to pull her eyes away from a car accident. If this book is par for the "Thomas" course, I'm glad we've missed the train.

My grandson loves trains and especially Thomas. I bought him several Thomas books for Christmas so he could take some home and leave some at Grammy's house. We read Thomas before naptime almost every day.

This book has 4 fun stories, based on the TV series. They will be familiar to fans of the show. It is illustrated with pictures rather than illustrations. The stories are a little more complex and advanced, so they won't necessarily hold the attention of toddlers, however, my 5 year-old wants them read over and over. The stories are well written and move at a good pace. The pictures are nicely done, and my 2 year-old enjoys looking at them. If you have Thomas fans at your house, you will like this book.

Our 4 year-old is excited about Thomas the Tank Engine characters, but I don't think he understands the points which these stories are making. I think he likes the *idea* of it being a Thomas book more than he enjoys listening to these stories themselves. He is just as happy to look briefly at the pictures while I summarize the story.

I know that the stories intend to teach good moral lessons, but I am sometimes uncomfortable about how they attempt to do this. For example, James is rude to some less polished train cars, so they take delight when James' resentful freight cars make James crash, causing tar to get all over James' nice paint job. The underlying message (don't be rude to others) may be lost on children who see all the characters behaving in unkind ways toward others.

Without going on too much, these stories are fragmented, unclear, poorly written, and the plots are lame and basically make no sense. I wrote a more in depth reveiw for "Edward's Exploit", which we bought along with this one. While some other (but most definitely not all) Thomas books revolve around a core group of charaters and seem to teach lessons and have some excitement to them, this book has a new character speaking less and less sense on every page. My toddler can't get into these.

My two year old will read "Trouble for Thomas", "A Cow on the Line" and "Thomas gets Tricked" over and over and over, but he lost interest in this collection of stories before we had even read it once. It wouldn't have been too hard for me to have read one story before buying this, but since the other Thomas books we had we such hits I figured I didn't need to . . . BIG mistake!

It's no secret among (most) parents of Thomas enthusiasts that Britt Allcroft is a horrible writer. For those unfamiliar, Britt Allcroft is a British lady who has written stories, capitalzing on the Thomas the Tank Engine series written by Rev. W. Awdry. She has made a bundle, judging by all the Thomas train sets, DVD's, books, and other paraphanalia.

Thomas and the Tank Engine is a very lame movie featuring the very poor writing of Britt Allcroft. Alec Baldwin is great as Mr. Conductor, and Diesel 10 has hilarious lines (his part *must* have been written by someone else!) The rest of the acting is utterly horrible and embarrassing to watch. (If I'm not mistaken, Allcroft directed...so maybe that had something to do with it.) In addition to poor writing, the Allcroft Thomas stories often feature trains harrassing and bullying one another with dubious "lessons" sometimes intertwined. (Whether Awdry wrote the trains like this or it's Allcroft's invention, I do not know.)

Anyway, the Thomas and the Magic Railroad is based on Allcroft's film. If you're not familiar with the story, it won't make much sense to you. (Not that little ones will care). Heck, even the movie didn't make much sense! However, my son LOVES this book. He spotted this one and another Thomas book the other day while in a "Stuff Mart". My son actually wanted these two books instead of a PS2 game! Hey, I'll always be glad when my son chooses books over video games!

As books go, this is a very nice hardback with 14 semi-glossy pages. Junior, Lily, Mutt and Burnett Stone--they're here. However, the characters do not resemble the actors from the movie. (Stacy and Patch don't make an appearance). The illustrations are bright and colorful, and the print is quite large.

My son requests this book be read to him *every* night...so he loves it. So while adults may not enjoy it--finding it silly or downright idiotic--little fans of Thomas the Tank Engine (and the movie) will likely love this book.

This book is just plain awful. My kids seem to like it, but personally I try to avoid reading it to them, the story is just too incoherent. Basically, it's a short summary of the movie (which is almost as bad). Also, for some unknown reason the "creators" of the book (and movie) introduces characters and situations that just don't match the Thomas universe that I'm familiar with (the whole concept of the "villain" Diesel 10 as well as Mr. Conductor and the gold dust thing just doesn't work for me). On the other hand, Lady is a wonderful character which is way underdeveloped.

I have to agree with the previous reviewer who said this book is disjointed. I cringe everytime I read it to my son (2 yrs). He likes it so we read it most nights before bed.

We've never seen the movie (where presumably the gaps, which account for ~50% of the book, are filled in). But, having read the book, I never want to see the movie.

Buy this book only if you want to suffer through countless nights reading about how Mr. Conductor gets thrown from Diesel 10's claw to the base of a windmill where there just happens to be a clue to the source of the gold dust. And that's about as much context as the book itself gives you.

My son and daughter went to see the movie. This coloring book gave them a chance to remember and retell the movies' events. They were so excited about the book, I had to order another one!

This book is a telegraphic, disjointed list of things that happen in the movie. There is no real narrative to speak of. I got the book for my 3-year-old before we saw the movie, and until then, it made no sense. Now, it is useful as a way of warding off having to go see that dreadfully acted movie again. As much as my son loves (and I appreciate) Thomas the Tank Engine, this book does a disservice to the characters and themes of the original series. The other two movie-based softcover books (one about Diesel 10 and one about Lady) are somewhat better -- they don't have the lessons of the original series, but at least they make some sense on their own.

This being the first "Thomas the Tank Engine" book I've ever read. I recognized some stories as word-for-word narrations from "Thomas" videos, but since I haven't seen ALL of the video or TV stories, some stories were new to me. My sons are big Thomas fans, so I know they'll love these books when they get them for Christmas!

This is a good Thomas story book. There is a TV series about Thomas. Then there are vediotapes about Thomas and there are a whole lot toys about Thomas. Children like them all. When I bought this book, ha, my three young ones fought for it. And I had to read to them one by one in turn. And I have other Thomas book too. They just can get enough of Thomas.

This book has several words in which I feel are not appropriate for a child's ear/story. Many of the characters are angry and show resentment. Would not advise buying for someone else's child.

Our two year old is a HUGE Thomas fan and also loves to read. About six months ago, we picked up three Thomas paperbacks at a used book store. They are the earlier ones, written a few years before these stories. The books we bought were exciting, well written, taught lessons and captivated my son completely. We thought it would be a great idea to get some more Thomas books.
The collection of stories in "Edward's Exploit" are LAME. I'm sorry to say it, but it's true. The stories barely make sense. The writing and grammar are poor. The story lines (when comprehensible) are boring and occasionly use innapropriate language. The pictures are alright to look at, but my son quickly loses interest in the stories and asks to read "Terence" or "Thomas fish" instead. I strongly recommend the story books "A Cow on the Line", "Thomas in Trouble", and "Thomas gets Tricked" instead of these newer books. I am most likely headed to the used toy store with "Edward's Exploit" and "James in a Mess". Don't waste your money!

The number of times "Shut Up" appears in these stories is shocking!! We have never seen the series but we have a cute Scholastic Thomas book and when our son received a Thomas Train Set I picked up a couple more books from the library. My husband and I were VERY disapointed with the language and the aggressive nature of all the characters (trains & people). Trains hitting each other and saying "there's more coming should you misbehave." Threatening to send trains away for being "clumsy." Of course our son loves the books because he loves trains but we don't want him learning anything these books have to teach.

If you have a child who loves lift a flap books you may want to consider Long Train. With 101 lift a flaps my son is having a great time. Very colorful, sturdy book.

Oh my. This one is not good at all.

We checked out "Long Train" for two reasons. First we are just about to begin counting to 100, and second my son is train-crazy. Thus it made sense to combine the two.

But wow. Not a good choice. Not only is the text boring and not a good read-aloud, there is no correlation between what is under the flaps and the number on the flap/car. Thus the book has turned out *not* to be a good teaching tool.

Take a look at the following two examples of text from four pages in the middle of the book:

Can't wait!
Got freight!
Can't be late!
Got a date!

Clickety-clack!
Rickety-rack!
Rickety-rack!
Clickety-clack!

Not exactly exciting stuff, and this is some of the best there is in terms of text.

And finally, the author and artist could have chosen something fun to put under the flaps. But no, there is a doctor with stethoscope under car 77 [ text says "got the doctor's stethoscope] and cd's, dvd's and VHS movies under another. And lets not forget "got cables that stretch for miles and miles". (Save me)

One Star. Colorful pages, but honestly not a book I would recommend anyone buy. It is not a great read-aloud, nor very interesting even to train fanatics.

This is my least favorite train book for children. When I ordered it online I thought it would be a fun book with many lift-the-flaps and I hoped it would help teach counting to 101 to my children. What a disappointment.

This is the first lift-the-flap book that I've seen that has two storylines. There is one storyline that is in between the flaps and is not related to the flaps in any way, and a totally different story going on under the flaps. The two cannot be read together at all. To make sense one must first read the story on the pages, ignoring the flaps. Then go back and lift each flap and read the words inside the flap and go through all 101 cars to read that story. The text under the flaps is much, much longer and more detailed than the other "story". There actually is no real plot to the words on the pages, it is mostly train sounds and disjointed phrases such as "can't go back".

I don't feel this teaches counting, as there are not a certain number of objects matched to the number, for example there are not 8 of some object than the number 8. The outer flap has a number on it then the text inside doesn't relate to that number, for example the flap number 30 says, "got Persian rugs". Every inner flap says "got" and then something. The flaps are so small they don't allow for showing the number of objects represented by the number nor does the text even say "got 30 Persian rugs" (which would have made sense to me). There are many varied and unrelated objects under the flaps, the text rhymes--sometimes. An example of a good rhyme (albeit goofy and probably not understood by young children) is "got CD, DVD, and movies, got party jackets for the smoothies, got 70s wigs for the groovies" (under 3 flaps). An example of a bad rhyme is " got cables that stretch for miles and miles, got telephones, faxes, and little mobiles". The only thing that is truly counted is if you count each train in the book, which would be a different exercise than reading the story on the page, or the story under the flaps and it is unrelated to lifting the flaps.

If this review sounds confusing, I apologize but this is the strangest and least organized book I've ever seen written for children. It seems to make no sense and is very jumbled up and a mess and hard to explain. I plan to get rid of this book as I dread it when my children ask to read it, and to inspire a love of reading in them I feel I should be a happy and enthusiastic reader, and I feel the books should be only good or exceptional in quality, and this is neither.

A great lift the flap book for train lovers! Plus it teaches counting skills 1-100! I'm going to buy another one!

Cute, but train was not able to be assembled. The cardboard train pieces didn't fit well (or at all) and the wheels on the base of the train -- which didn't even resemble a train -- didn't move. My son who is a train nut was very dissapointed. Really the only part he found a use for were the stickers in the kit, he put them on his other trains.

"Cool Trains" is one of a series of Cool Kits that Book Studio has put out for DK that give youngsters a chance to not only learn about trains but also to build their own. The accompanying booklet by Sarah Eason, illustrated by Terry Pastor, covers the development of trains from the first wooden trucks run on rails that were pulled by horses or people to the French TGV train that travels 320 miles an hour, as well as providing young readers with a look at the trains of the future. They will also learn about some of the most famous trains from history, such as the Rocket from England and the American Steam train "The General," as well as the many different ways that trains are used today. The result is a bit more than a brief introduction to the subject

The other half of this interactive kit allows you to build two different kinds of motorized steam engines. There are assembly instructions that allow you to put together the chassis and then put together either a traditional steam engine, that sort of looks like your basic North American steam train, or "The Mallard," the fastest-ever steam train which featured the much sleeker design of the more modern train engine (we are talking basically cardboard cut outs with tabs, so these are rather delicate but something youngsters can easily do). There are a bunch of stickers that you can apply to spruce up each of these bodies. The vehicle you end up constructing works best on a smooth surface, such as a laminated floor, and not at all on a carpet, so be aware of those limitations.

The train that you construct is not going to compete with the model trains that are out there (my father still has what is supposed "my" train set that he bought for in Germany for my first Christmas), but certainly it can work as a first step in that regard. Putting together the body will also give them a sense of the respect they have to have for such "toys" when they are ready to move up to the first level. Even if kids are not particularly interested in trains, this interactive kit can give them a nudge in that direction. "Cool Trains" is one of a half-dozen initial Cool Kits that DK has put out this year. The other "Build Your Own" Cool Kit is for "Cool Trucks." There are also a couple of "Pop Science" Cool Kits devoted to electricity ("Spark!") and magnetism ("Attract!"), and a pair of "Blast From the Past" Cool Kits that allow youngsters to "Be an Ancient Egyptian" and "Be an Ancient Roman."

The model train was delightful when finished but requires adult or older child (12+) assistance to put together.

Great story and fun exercises to reinforce what they read. Perfectly described by the other reviewer except our Kindergartener did not have any trouble with the exercises.

There are so many great kids books out there, it amazes me that a publisher could produce such a bad book. In this story, Thomas the train "comes to breakfast", meaning he crashes into a home where the family is eating at the table.

What is the purpose? Should kids think its funny if Thomas came crashing through their window, toppled their dining room table and endangered everybody? Who in the h_ _ _ thought up this story?

"It is morning. Thomas wants to drive on his own. Thomas starts to go. He can not stop." -From the book

Thomas Comes to Breakfast is a Step 1 "Step into Reading" book, and is also a write-in reader.

Thomas gets the idea that he can run on the track all by himself...without the help of a driver! He ends up crashing into a house where a family is eating breakfast. Donald and Douglas-the Scottish twins-are called in to help Thomas out of the mess. They laugh at Thomas, and the family is mad at him.

This book is geared to beginning readers and writers, and provides several exercises for children to do. For example, there's a page asking "What can you do on your own?" and the child is instructed to draw a picture of it. There are other sections to draw a mad face and sad face, a match the items section (very basic), mathing things that make you stop, and a section to write the beginning letter of four words whose picture is on the previous page.

While Thomas Comes to Breakfast is supposedly geared to children of Preschool and Kindergarten age, the writing exercise is confusing and too difficult, in my opinion. The other exercises are age appropriate, however.

Douglas and Donald laugh at Thomas and his plight, but this story is one of the mild ones with regards to the engines taunting one another.