Underground Train

by Mary Quattlebaum, Cat Bowman Smith (Illustrator)

A little girl on the way to visit her Nana experiences the wonders of traveling on an underground train, while aboveground traffic stops, sparrows hop, and little girls jump rope. Reprint.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Trains

32 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 1997

Reviews

[Lgordo]

This falls under "books I want to hate but I can't". The illustrations I really dislike, but the writing works surprisingly well.

[Asho]

This book is a bit lengthy for my two-year-old, so we actually only read it properly once. However, while we had it checked out from the library this month he would grab it occasionally just to look at the pictures of the train. As locals, it is fun to see recognizable metro stations and DC landmarks in a book. I think I'll try this again in a year or so, assuming my son's enthusiasm for trains continues.

[Kerri]

Kids love the sounds in this picture book. And, it's even more exciting for them if you are from or are visiting D.C. as they will recognize many familiar landmarks such as the National Zoo.

[Deborah]

Ages 4-8. Wonderful illustrations -- full of character -- of residents of Washington, DC riding the Metro trains. POV is a little person riding with the mother to visit the grandmother at Cleveland Park metro stop to feed the geese and ducks. Good instruction on holding on to mom's hand, keeping your ticket for exit, enjoying the sights and sounds of the metro train, and looking forward to visiting grandmother. The illustrations are delightful and give a bird's eye view of Washington and its monuments.

[Catherine Petrini]

When he was little, this was one of my son's favorite books. It tells the story of a child riding the Metrorail subway system in Washington, D.C., which he always loved to do, too. It is beautifully written, with brief but vivid descriptions of what it's like to ride on the underground train, and of what is happening above the train tunnel. It's a great read-aloud book, with the cadence of the words reflecting the speed of the train. In fact, I read it aloud today at a bookstore's story time, and the preschoolers loved seeing and hearing about the trains and the places they know.

[Nathan]

Perhaps an experience of the author's childhood?

[Dolly]

This is a short, entertaining story about a little girl and her mom going on the Washington D.C. Metro to visit her grandmother. The narrative is filled with onomatopoeia and the watercolor illustrations are nicely detailed.

We enjoyed reading this book together. Even though the story is for a slightly younger audience, our girls could appreciate the excitement of taking the train and the local setting was very familiar to us.

[Parker]

Matt will pretty much love any kid's book that deal with Metro. Parker better get used to this book bc I'm pretty sure Matt is going to read it to him every chance he gets - the brainwashing will need to start early!!