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Trainstop: A Picture Book About a Magical Train Adventure for Kids
A ride on the train is exciting. There's always something new to see, even if you've been there before.
But some train rides are better than others . . .
What if a train took you somewhere else entirely? What if the doors opened in a strange, new place? This is one train stop you won't want to miss!
But some train rides are better than others . . .
What if a train took you somewhere else entirely? What if the doors opened in a strange, new place? This is one train stop you won't want to miss!
32 pages, Hardcover
First published April 7, 2008
3 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
January 20, 2017
A wordless book that allows children to use their imagination to fit a story to the pictures. Fun for children and adults to share.
May 6, 2017
A girl gets on a train and finds herself in a strange country where she is a giant, and the people there are in need of some giant-sized help.
This was a lovely and quirky, and completely wordless story. The illustrations convey the realistic train journey and the subtle-but-fanciful land where the traveling girl finds herself during the train's unexpected stop.
This was a fun bit of storytelling that worked well without dialogue and without any explanation beyond the events depicted in the illustrations.
This was a lovely and quirky, and completely wordless story. The illustrations convey the realistic train journey and the subtle-but-fanciful land where the traveling girl finds herself during the train's unexpected stop.
This was a fun bit of storytelling that worked well without dialogue and without any explanation beyond the events depicted in the illustrations.
October 31, 2015
On a seemingly regular subway ride, a little girl discovers the train has traveled to the countryside, where many tiny people are calling for help. Upon getting off the train and following them, she sees that one of them and a small airplane are stuck in a tree. She tries to get them out, but isn't quite tall enough. However, by holding up one of the tiny people, they are able to free them. After waving goodbye, she gets back on the train and goes back to the city. When she gets there, the tiny people visit her on an airplane with a small plant, which she plants and eventually grows into a big fruit tree, matching the trees in front of some of the other buildings.
This book is a great wordless book because there are a lot of little details, but the story itself is not inherently obvious, so every reader will come away from it with a slightly different version of the story. How did the person get stuck in a tree? How did so many houses get those fruit trees? Was the little girl just imagining things? The child I work with can relate to the big city, subway riding perspective, and it would be interesting to see what story she would come up with if given this book. If she did not want to share her story with me (she does not talk much in English unless prompted), she could also share it with Bruce in Mandarin, which would still be good experience in expressing her ideas. The book also has good themes around helping others and teamwork, as well as imagination if that is how the child interprets it.
This book is a great wordless book because there are a lot of little details, but the story itself is not inherently obvious, so every reader will come away from it with a slightly different version of the story. How did the person get stuck in a tree? How did so many houses get those fruit trees? Was the little girl just imagining things? The child I work with can relate to the big city, subway riding perspective, and it would be interesting to see what story she would come up with if given this book. If she did not want to share her story with me (she does not talk much in English unless prompted), she could also share it with Bruce in Mandarin, which would still be good experience in expressing her ideas. The book also has good themes around helping others and teamwork, as well as imagination if that is how the child interprets it.
November 17, 2015
This is a wordless book that enables children to use their imagination and invent their own stories. The pictures provide a rough guideline of what the book could be about, but the readers are able to develop and transform the pictures into their own unique story. The book provides pictures of a little girl's ride on a train. It starts of rather ordinary, and then she come across people on the countryside who seem to need help. She gets off the train, meets the townspeople, helps them with their task, and then gets back on the train. She heads back home in a big city. She is surprised to see later that the townspeople have come to thank her. I like this book because it allows children inventive, and take context clues from the book about what the story could be about. I also like that it is not overwhelmed by words, which can be intimidating for all children, especially those with special needs. This book could be used during vehicle units, or perhaps literary units in which students learn to write their own books.
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March 30, 2016A wordless picture book that proves that a picture is worth a thousand words. In the book you can make up your own story by what you see in the illustrations. This girl is on the train going somewhere and the train goes through a tunnel. Everyone else is sleep but she looks outside and see little people. They call for her help and she does and helps one of them out of a tree. She then has to get back on the bus to go. They go through another tunnel and they are in the same old boring city. Was it all just a dream? Was she asleep like everyone else? She gets a visit from her little friends and she is content. When the train is in the city the pictures are dull and boring with no color but the train that is yellow. When they go to the magical land the pictures are vivid and colorful. This is a great book to let children look at and let them tell you their own story.
May 3, 2019
This is another strange one. When all the passengers were asleep I was thinking I’d be outa there too! I don’t know why I find it so trippy. It’s fun but I don’t know at the same time. Weird but safe.
September 12, 2017
Debra Lehman’s “Trainstop,” the focus of the picturebook is one of differentiating the reader’s perspective. Although the story is told through third-person perspective, the changes with each picture frame tells a story of its own story. Even from the beginning, the title and dedication pages are significant. For example, the opening shot is an illustration of the train station. This illustration is the same illustration, cut down to multiple perspectives—by zooming in and out of focus on a single, eventful illustration. By zooming in and out of the scene, the perspective changes. With these seemingly small adjustments, the view of the characters changes.
In that same vein of change, the family is presented in muted colors—mostly a grey washes of colors. In the beginning these muted colors dominate the cityscape. The continuous narration is sequenced in montage moments—mostly during the time spent in the tunnel (imaginary and realistically). Symbolically, the parents are seen as one unit, separate from the main character. The parents are dull and unaffectionate, like the colors. In this manner, the protagonist is left alone to her own imagination.
When the child is left alone with her own creativity, the borders and perspectives change; the frames come alive with color. At certain points of the plot, the framing of the train windows and then they are not framed (or framed in another way). In the child’s imagination, she is giant. Before, in the opening sequences, she is seen as small—especially in the scenes with her family. Framing, colors, and perspective play into the events of the story.
There is much movement in the moments between the tunnel scenes. Like the vivid yellow train, the colors brighten with the mood of the main character. When the colors brighten, they personify her active imagination. There is a connection between her imaginary world and the real world at the end of the story. There are symbols that are repeated in both real life and her imaginary life. The large silver horn is a motif present in both (real/imaginary). The train horn is important because it is symbol that is present in the real world and her imaginary world. At the conclusion of the story, she continues to hear the train horn in her day dreams and in the city: imagination is everywhere.
In that same vein of change, the family is presented in muted colors—mostly a grey washes of colors. In the beginning these muted colors dominate the cityscape. The continuous narration is sequenced in montage moments—mostly during the time spent in the tunnel (imaginary and realistically). Symbolically, the parents are seen as one unit, separate from the main character. The parents are dull and unaffectionate, like the colors. In this manner, the protagonist is left alone to her own imagination.
When the child is left alone with her own creativity, the borders and perspectives change; the frames come alive with color. At certain points of the plot, the framing of the train windows and then they are not framed (or framed in another way). In the child’s imagination, she is giant. Before, in the opening sequences, she is seen as small—especially in the scenes with her family. Framing, colors, and perspective play into the events of the story.
There is much movement in the moments between the tunnel scenes. Like the vivid yellow train, the colors brighten with the mood of the main character. When the colors brighten, they personify her active imagination. There is a connection between her imaginary world and the real world at the end of the story. There are symbols that are repeated in both real life and her imaginary life. The large silver horn is a motif present in both (real/imaginary). The train horn is important because it is symbol that is present in the real world and her imaginary world. At the conclusion of the story, she continues to hear the train horn in her day dreams and in the city: imagination is everywhere.
September 19, 2018
This book was very interesting because its a wordless picture book. so you have to make what the author is trying to say. What I got was, its about a girl who goes on a train ride with her parents and sits by the window. All she sees is buildings and nothing stands out to her, so she uses her imagination. She imagines going by a stop that's happy and bright. A place where her help is needed. They flag her down, so off she goes and they rush her to where her they need her. They need her to help get the people and plane out of the tree. she helps and everyone is happy. She then returns to the train and goes home where she cant stop thinking about the place she visited.
I really enjoyed trying to figure out what was happening in the book. Some of the pictures were dark and some were bright, it was very colorful. The only thing was there was a lot of white boarders on most of the pages. I wish they were colorful instead but overall great book.
I really enjoyed trying to figure out what was happening in the book. Some of the pictures were dark and some were bright, it was very colorful. The only thing was there was a lot of white boarders on most of the pages. I wish they were colorful instead but overall great book.
September 5, 2024
This is a very entertaining wordless book with excellent illustrations that truly tell the story. A young lady is taking a train with her parents, who are very careful to see that she gets on safely. They fall asleep, and unbeknownst to them, the young lady slips off of the train at one of the stops and has a little adventure. She boards the train again before it departs. Her parents wake up when they get to their destination and carefully make sure she gets off of the train safely. It helps the reader to understand that their parents love and care for them, but that s/he will be able to do many things on his/her own when the time is right. This is a book that a non-reader can "read" multiple times, learning how books work (i.e., reading left to right, front to back, with page turns) and that each page in a book is a true delight of its own.
September 12, 2023
"Trainstop" by Barbara Lehman is a wordless story with endless interpretations. I had never read a children's book with no words, but nevertheless this book captured my attention! A young girl journeys off from her urban life on a long yellow train. She ventures off to a rural town filled with many children playing outside. She then finds a toy plane and some dolls in a tree top that she takes home with her back in the city. I enjoyed how open ended and creative each page of the story was. This book has great potential to unlock the imagination of each child. I would recommend this story to lower elementary students (grades K-2). With cartoon-type illustrations, kids will certainly love this book to be read aloud in the classroom.
September 13, 2023
This book relies fully on the illustrations itself to tell the story. It helps us realize what is happening in the story, where she’s going and what is happening off of the train. When she is off of the train the illustrations show us the difference between her and the people who are smaller than her and how she can help them because of her height. There are no words in these interactions but you can tell from the illustrations that the people are happy that they were helped by the little girl and what a difference has been made in their lives, so much so that they fly back to her home and give her a small tree to plant. All of this was told through the power of illustrations and this shows how a picture can show 1000 words.
February 9, 2018
Lehman, Barbara Train Stop, 32 pgs. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, c2008. Language-G, Sexual Content-G; Violence-G;
REVIEW: In this wordless picture book, a young girl takes a train ride. She experiences an unusual train stop and returns home to an unexpected visit from new friends. The reader must study the pictures carefully to understand the story. Attention to detail opens up the plot so that the reader says, "ahaa" when the story ends.
EL -ADVISABLE, Marilyn Mann, Elementary Library Specialist.
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2008/...
REVIEW: In this wordless picture book, a young girl takes a train ride. She experiences an unusual train stop and returns home to an unexpected visit from new friends. The reader must study the pictures carefully to understand the story. Attention to detail opens up the plot so that the reader says, "ahaa" when the story ends.
EL -ADVISABLE, Marilyn Mann, Elementary Library Specialist.
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2008/...
September 29, 2019
This is a wordless book and this can let children imagine the progress of the story, and also the steps of the story is very clear and easy to know.
This book is mainly talking about a girl who took a train with her parents and the train passed a strange country, girl get off the train and help them, and then she continues her journey when she got home people who she helped, came to thanks her. This story also tells children that is good to help others.
I recommend this book to each group children!
This book is mainly talking about a girl who took a train with her parents and the train passed a strange country, girl get off the train and help them, and then she continues her journey when she got home people who she helped, came to thanks her. This story also tells children that is good to help others.
I recommend this book to each group children!
September 30, 2019
Appropriate for grades pre-k-1
This book is about a little girl who is taking a trip in a train. While she is on it, she imagines it stopped at a land of little people, that she helps out. When she gets back home, she is still thinking about her imaginary adventure.
This book is good because it is fun and the children can use their imagination. It is also about something familiar, since most of the students know what a train is.
You can use this to create a class book about where the children would stop if they were on a train.
This book is about a little girl who is taking a trip in a train. While she is on it, she imagines it stopped at a land of little people, that she helps out. When she gets back home, she is still thinking about her imaginary adventure.
This book is good because it is fun and the children can use their imagination. It is also about something familiar, since most of the students know what a train is.
You can use this to create a class book about where the children would stop if they were on a train.
April 23, 2018
I love the illustrations and colors within this book. This book is wordless, but it shows a little girl riding a strain and she ends up in the country where there are tiny people. She ends up helping the tiny people before going back to the city. This is a book that actually has a lot of details and themes within the illustrations that students can interpret differently and use their imagination to figure out what words they would use for the story.
February 12, 2019
A textless picture book about a girl travelling alone on a train who imagines a Lilliputtian adventure (per Gulliver's Travels). An opportunity for preschoolers to make up their own narrative.
Miss 4 and I like to explore different books and authors at the library, sometimes around particular topics or themes. We try to get different ones out every week or so; it's fun for both of us to have the variety and to look at a mix of new & favourite authors.
Miss 4 and I like to explore different books and authors at the library, sometimes around particular topics or themes. We try to get different ones out every week or so; it's fun for both of us to have the variety and to look at a mix of new & favourite authors.
February 10, 2019
A girl and her parents board a train. She enjoys looking out the windows while the adults around her zone out.
Suddenly, she sees someone outside trying to catch her attention. The train has come to a stop. She leaves the train to rescue the person and toy plane caught in the tree, then returns to the train for the rest of the journey.
Suddenly, she sees someone outside trying to catch her attention. The train has come to a stop. She leaves the train to rescue the person and toy plane caught in the tree, then returns to the train for the rest of the journey.
March 2, 2021
The plot of this book was slightly ambiguous and allowed the reader to relate to the story in different ways, depending on their own experiences. I would have liked the story to have had a little more of a structured approach because the story seems so open to interpretation. The illustrations portrayed the real-life experience of going on a train ride to a new city. I would recommend this book.
February 11, 2021
A wordless book. The main character takes a train trip with her parents and along the way encounters a surreal, dreamlike trainstop in a land of tiny people. We didn't like this as much as her other wordless books, such as The Red Book.
April 13, 2021
A little girl is riding on a train and observing everything out the window as the train moves along. At one stop, she sees something strange and hops off of the train to help. I liked this one until it got to the strange part, which was just a little too random for me.
January 1, 2018
Very cool wordless book that will stretch the imagination.
September 4, 2018
Cute wordless book about a girl on the train. She finds a group of small people and helps them. Then they reward her help with a special gift.
March 26, 2019
A wordless picture book about journeying to another world. Lehman's bold lines and colors make her pictures easy to interpret.
September 8, 2019
Cute story and great pictures.
Wordless.
Wordless.
June 13, 2020
Ms. Lehman explores the secret, magical world of kids: "going off."
January 16, 2021
A definite must-add to our Wordless book tub.
January 11, 2022
Cute but a little flat.
February 20, 2022
My kid loves this book more than Curious George. More than D.W. So very much.
October 27, 2022
A wordless journey through a normal day for a child with a stop for a small adventure.
January 12, 2023
A fascinating book for kids who spend too much time on electronics. A good hint on our environment too.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews