This book is interesting in the way the cover art. It a curious cover in a way that makes me want to pick it up and read it. I know from the title of the book what it about. The author does a wonderfully good job bringing in the reader.

I was curious about what the two animals were going about it. Though it looks like one friend is trying to explain about trains to a new friend. This seems apparent. In a way, he keeps it up to convince the friend of the raccoon. In a way that is not mean or annoying.

The picture is done well. They are cute and enjoyable. I could see the squire talk and express this love of trains. The way it ends makes me think he loves talking about trains. If you love trains he might want to teach his new friend all about them.

Parents and children will love this book “Do You Like Trains?”. It is good for teaching and learning about trains. It good train lovers and children that love trains. Children will love this book in the sense that it doe have some rhyming. Parents can read this to their children. Grandparents could read this to their grandchildren.

What a cute book. I enjoyed it. The story is written well. The storytelling is made for children. Though they may need a little help. Children will enjoy this book. It genders natural and that good. The age group may be set for 4 years old and up.

The pictures are done well. Pictures are someone telling the story. As I was reading, I wonder if Matthew was dreaming or if it became real. The story set on Matthew mostly but his sister does come into play.

How the story goes makes you on a journey a bit. Will Matthew see a gingerbread train? What is so sweet and lovely about it? I enjoyed looking at this train. The train seems to come in the afternoon and only when I child is there. How this story ends is lovely and done well. Though I wonder what happens after the holiday.

If your children enjoy trains and love playing with them. This book is good for them. Parents can read the book to their young children. Children can read it if they choose to do so.

First of all, Locomotive by Brian Floca has absolutely beautiful illustrations. [A/N: It was a Caldecott Medal Winner and a Sibert Honor Book so you know I'm not just whistling Dixie.] This could be a potentially dry subject (a 19th century family's cross country journey to a new home) but the illustrations really take it to a whole other lever. This is best categorized as classic picture book meets historical fiction. It reads as if it could be a nonfiction story of a family journeying by the newest technical innovation, the transcontinental railroad, across the country. This would work best either with a child who loves trains or to a slightly older group of kids (maybe in a classroom) who want to know more about this period of American history. 8/10

What I'm Currently Reading: The Star Diaries by Stanislaw Lem

I've read a couple of Gervaise Fen full length novels and enjoyed them quite a bit, but I think I might like the short stories even better.

That wonderful, dry English humor: check!

Well plotted mysteries: check!

Fair play plotting: check! (although as Crispin cites in his foreword, 4 of them require a bit of specialised knowledge that result in them not really being fair-play)

While the book is touted as a collection of Fen short stories, a few at the back did not involve Fen at all.  One of these, The Evidence for the Crown, might have been my favorite simply because Crispin led me so elegantly through the story that I didn't see the obvious right in front of me.  Conversely, it was also a non-Fen story that was my least favorite.  The Golden Mean just was unsatisfying and felt incomplete.

There's just something about the style of story construction that reminds me of the Holmes short stories; Fen is no Holmes to be sure, but there's a similarity in the efficiency of the writing.  Unless you can count the bantering sass between Fen and Humbleby as character development, these stories are wholly plot driven.

I have another collection of Crispin shorts and I'm really looking forward to them.