Two Little Trains

by Margaret Wise Brown, Greg Pizzoli (Illustrator)

Overview

“Skillfully designed and composed, Pizzoli's cheerful interpretation is thoroughly modern and charming. Swoonworthy for train lovers and preschoolers alike.” —Kirkus (starred review)

The classic picture book from Margaret Wise Brown about two trains and their cross-country journey from east to west, with a bold new look from Geisel Award–winning artist Greg Pizzoli.

Two little trains went down the track,

Two little trains went West.

PUFF PUFF PUFF

CHUG CHUG CHUG

Two little trains to the West.

A streamlined train and a little old train journey through hills and over mountains, crossing rivers and plains, in this treasured story from Margaret Wise Brown, author of Goodnight Moon. Reimagined with bold and vibrant art by Geisel Award–winning artist Greg Pizzoli, this updated edition is perfect for fans of things that go.

Makes for a great baby shower gift!

"Pizzoli’s illustrations...add texture, vibrancy, and bring the journey to new life. Toddlers and preschoolers who love trains will delight in the tale while adults familiar with the original book will appreciate the opportunity to introduce it to a new generation."—School Library Journal (starred review)

"The soothing clickity-clack of the late Brown’s verse lulls as effectively as when it first appeared 70 years ago."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“This is a storytime winner. Blocky clear shapes, vivid colors, and simple designs make each page burst with an energy that will appeal to the smallest child.”—Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062676511
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/03/2020
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,044,906
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Margaret Wise Brown, cherished for her unique ability to convey a child’s experience and perspective of the world, transformed the landscape of children’s literature with such beloved classics as Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Other perennial favorites by Ms. Brown include My World; Christmas in the Barn; The Dead Bird; North, South, East, West; and Good Day, Good Night.

Greg Pizzoli is the author and illustrator of several books, including the Geisel Award-winning The Watermelon Seed, as well as Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower and Good Night Owl. He lives in Philadelphia. Visit him online at www.gregpizzoli.com

Date of Birth:

May 23, 1910

Date of Death:

November 13, 1952

Place of Birth:

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Place of Death:

Nice, France

Education:

B.A., Hollins College, 1932; Bank Street College of Education

Website:

http://www.margaretwisebrown.com

Editorial Reviews

★ 12/23/2019

“Two little trains/ went down the track,/ two little trains went West.// PUFF PUFF PUFF/ CHUG CHUG CHUG/ two little trains to the West.” The soothing clickity-clack of the late Brown’s verse lulls as effectively as when it first appeared 70 years ago, illustrated first by Jean Charlot, then by Leo and Diane Dillon. This treatment by Geisel Medalist Pizzoli shows the two trains journeying in tandem through tunnels and over bridges. Toylike rubber stamp illustrations offer a grainy, vintage look, the trains’ repeated sounds set in outsize, circus poster–style type. Here, the two trains run on the same track—the “little old” engine first; the newer, “streamlined” train, trailing—each headed across the country’s vast interior through night and day, rain and snow, and hot sun rendered in faded colors. The trains start over a brick bridge crossing a wide river (“Look down/ look down/ below the bridge,/ at the deep dark river going West”), cross mountains and weather, arrive at an ocean full of origami-like fish, and rest at last in a sunbaked city: “They had come to the edge of the West.” Brown’s classic offers a beginner’s map of the country’s geography in a rhythmic journey that can be taken over and over again. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Skillfully designed and composed, Pizzoli's cheerful interpretation is thoroughly modern and charming. Swoonworthy for train lovers and preschoolers alike.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

The soothing clickity-clack of the late Brown’s verse lulls as effectively as when it first appeared 70 years ago. — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Pizzoli’s illustrations...add texture, vibrancy, and bring the journey to new life....Toddlers and preschoolers who love trains will delight in the tale while adults familiar with the original book will appreciate the opportunity to introduce it to a new generation. — School Library Journal (starred review)

This is a storytime winner…Blocky clear shapes, vivid colors, and simple designs make each page burst with an energy that will appeal to the smallest child. — Booklist

From the Publisher

This is a storytime winner…Blocky clear shapes, vivid colors, and simple designs make each page burst with an energy that will appeal to the smallest child.

Booklist

This is a storytime winner…Blocky clear shapes, vivid colors, and simple designs make each page burst with an energy that will appeal to the smallest child.

Booklist

★ 02/01/2020

PreS-Gr 2—First released in 1949 and illustrated by Jean Charlot, this classic story has been reimagined for a new generation with brand new illustrations. Brown tells readers that "Two little trains went down the track, two little trains went West. Puff Puff Puff. Chug Chug Chug." Two different trains—a streamliner and a steam engine—both travel down a long steel track, through a dark hill, over a river, through the rain, through the snow, and on until they reach the edge of the West. Pizzoli's illustrations have the look of sponge painting; stamps and a mix of digital media add texture, vibrancy, and bring the journey to new life. Train lovers will delight in the simple singsong text. VERDICT Toddlers and preschoolers who love trains will delight in the tale while adults familiar with the original book will appreciate the opportunity to introduce it to a new generation.—Kristen Todd-Wurm, Middle Country Public Library, NY

School Library Journal

★ 2019-10-23
First illustrated by Jean Charlot (1949) and then by Leo and Diane Dillon (2001) and now reimagined by Pizzoli, Brown's enduring classic follows two distinct trains on their journeys west.

"Two little trains / went down the track, / two little trains went West. // PUFF PUFF PUFF / CHUG CHUG CHUG / two little trains to the West." Over hills and through rain, snow, night, and wind, the trains—one a steam engine, the other a streamliner—travel. Brown uses onomatopoeia to punctuate the narrative while Pizzoli exploits it to differentiate the two locomotives. He makes every spread a visual play on contrasts, from the different train stylizations and type styles (sans serif for the streamliner's "PUFF" and serif for the steam engine's "CHUG") to the complementary color palettes. The bold illustrations, created with rubber stamps and Photoshop, are done in a simplified style. Accessible, appealing, and understandable, both artwork and text are deceivingly simple, belying the sophisticated nature of each. Lively, rhythmic, and often rhyming text propels trains and readers down the tracks while evocative descriptions work within the confines of a few phrases per page. Skillfully designed and composed, Pizzoli's cheerful interpretation is thoroughly modern and charming.

Swoonworthy for train lovers and preschoolers alike. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews

A Child Magazine Best Book of 2001 Pick

Back in print with a fresh new look, Brown's tale of a "streamlined train" and a "little old train" is given an inventive twist by the Dillons. Here, they envision parallel journeys, one real and one fanciful. The sleek and striking new artwork invites all aboard for a journey of the imagination.

Child Magazine

A handsome reinterpretation.

ALA Booklist (starred review)

This beautiful new edition is in the same spirit as Brown’s Goodnight Moon and should please the same broad audience. It’s wonderful to have it back in such appropriate, and handsome, new garb.

Horn Book (starred review)