Steam Train, Dream Train 1-2-3

Starred review from March 11, 2013
Like this team’s bestselling Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site, this vehicular bedtime book revs up before winding down, and both text and art smoothly transition from stimulating to soothing. A train stops at the “Night Falls” station to pick up its animal crew, who energetically load the train: acrobatic monkeys carry monkey bars onto a boxcar, rabbits bounce aboard on pogo sticks, a polar bear fills a refrigerated car with giant ice cream sundaes, and leaping kangaroos toss balls into a hopper (“The crew hops to it, one and all—/ they get to work and have a ball!”). Rinker’s verse assumes a gentler lilt as the weary animals are pictured tucked into bed—on flatbed cars, fittingly—and the train is seen “Puffing, chuffing out of sight.../ Steam train, dream train.../ chhhhhh... goodnight.” Rendered in wax oil pastels, Lichtenheld’s moonlit illustrations have a lovely luster and a rich texture reminiscent of chalk drawings, using various shades of blue to evoke a magical midnight setting. A go-to goodnight story for train- and animal-loving preschoolers. Ages 1–6. Agent: Amy Rennert, Amy Rennert Agency.

February 15, 2016
This spin-off of Rinker and Lichtenheld’s bestselling Steam Train, Dream Train takes readers from one to 10 as they check out the activities taking place in a string of train cars. The events pictured in Lichtenheld’s humorously detailed images aren’t always terribly sleep-inducing—three rabbits bounce on a bed, four turtles pretend to drive race cars on a rack—but Rinker’s soothing rhymes exert a steady, calming presence: “Two squirrels stack six balls up high,/ two other balls go flying by,” she writes as kangaroos play basketball in a hopper car. Available simultaneously: Steam Train, Dream Train Colors. Up to age 2. Agent: Amy Rennert, Amy Rennert Agency.