Trainstop

Another favorite of the last few days that we picked up accidentally at the library and to which Sava has taken with great enthusiasm is Trainstop by Barbara Lehman. It is a wordless book, of the sort that are supposed to be good for kids' imaginations but that we have not made a big effort to seek out, and it is beautifully done. It tells the story--or one possible story--of a little girl's trip on the train with her parents, who seem to ignore her for much of the trip, either reading their newspaper or sleeping. The train goes through the city and out into the countryside, and then stops in what looks like an imaginary place full of tiny little people, who recruit the girl's help in getting down another little person from a tree where he is hanging by the hem of his shirt alongside his little airplane, stuck between the branches. The girl, whom we have named Emily, gets down the little person (Simon 1) with the help of another little person (Simon 2) and then runs back to the train which takes her back to the city with her parents. Back home, she receives a visit from the two Simons in their airplane, and they bring her a tiny apple tree which she plants in her front yard and watches grow. Each time we read the book Sava chooses to dwell on different pages and each time we invent details that have not been mentioned before. It's a joyous treat.