Seymour Simon's Book of Trains: A Nonfiction Picture Book About Steam, Diesel, and Electric Vehicles for Kids

by Seymour Simon

Award-winning science writer Seymour Simon's exploration of these very different trains and their uses, combined with his characteristically eye-catching full-color photographs, captures the beauty and power of steam trains, diesel trains, electric trains, and more—all at work!  This nonfiction picture book is an excellent choice to share during homeschooling, in particular for children ages 6 to 8. It’s a fun way to learn to read and as a supplement for activity books for children. Seymour Simon knows how to explain science to kids and make it fun. He was a teacher for more than twenty years, has written more than 250 books, and has won multiple awards. This book includes an author's note, glossary, and index and supports the Common Core Learning Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards.

Genres: Picture Books, Trains, Nonfiction, Childrens

40 pages, Paperback

First published February 19, 2002

About the author

Seymour Simon, whom the NY Times called "the dean of [children's science:] writers," is the author of more than 250 highly acclaimed science books (many of which have been named Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children by the National Science Teachers Association).

Seymour Simon uses his website, SeymourSimon.com, to provide free downloads of a wealth of materials for educators, homeschoolers and parents to use with his books, including 4-page Teacher Guides for all 26 of his Collins/Smithsonian photo essay books. The site provides multiple resources for kids writing book reports or wanting to explore the online Science Dictionary, and also features the Seymour Science blog highlighting current science news. Educators and families are encouraged to sign up to receive the monthly newsletter from SeymourSimon.com to stay abreast of the latest materials that Seymour Simon is introducing to enrich the reading experience.

He taught science and creative writing in elementary and secondary schools and was chair of the science department at a junior high school in the New York City public school system before leaving to become a full-time writer. "I haven't really given up teaching," he says, "and I suppose I never will, not as long as I keep writing and talking to kids around the country and the world."

Seymour Simon is also a creator and the author of a series of 3D books and a series of Glow-in-the-Dark Books for Scholastic Book Clubs, a series of leveled SEEMORE READERS for Chronicle Books, and the EINSTEIN ANDERSON, SCIENCE DETECTIVE series of fiction books. His books encourage children to enjoy the world around them through learning and discovery, and by making science fun. He has introduced tens of millions of children to a staggering array of subjects; one prominent science education specialist described Simon's books as "extraordinary examples of expository prose."

Seymour Simon has been honored with many awards for his work, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Lifetime Achievement Award for his lasting contribution to children's science literature; the New York State Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature; the Hope S. Dean Memorial Award from the Boston Public Library for his contribution to children's science literature; The Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for Non-fiction; the Jeremiah Ludington Award for his outstanding contribution to children's nonfiction; the Empire State Award for excellence in literature for young people; and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Forum on Children's Science Books.

In a recent interview Simon was asked if he ever thinks of retiring. "I seem to be working faster and harder than ever. I absolutely don't feel any urge to sit back and look at what I've done. The only things that I'm thinking about are things I'd like to do in the future. I'm planning and doing and continuing to write. It's what I love to do. I remember a story about an anthropologist going to talk to a tribe and he asked them what was their word for "work." Their response was they have no word for work. Everybody does the things that they do in their life. I love that response. I don't differentiate between work and play. Everything I do is something that I enjoy doing - the writing, the research and everything else."

Seymour Simon writes and photographs nature from his hilltop home in Columbia County in upstate New York, where he lives with his wife Liz Nealon.

You can follow Seymour on Facebook and on Twitter, as well as on his website, which offers free, downloadable Teacher Guides to his books for educators, parents and homeschoolers, as well as the popular Seymour Science Daily Blo

Reviews

[595AJ_NikkiHuske]

Seymour Simon has created another wonderful informational text to help young children learn about trains. He provides eye-catching,full page pictures of the trains with descriptions and their uses on the opposite page. This book held my 2 year old son's attention. He especially enjoyed the caboose at the end.

In the classroom, Seymour's books are excellent informational texts to teach intermediate students how to find the main idea and supporting details. The structure of his books are logical and aids in comprehension for the reader. In this book he begins with an introduction. Then he describes each type of train. Moves on to provide information on each type of freight car and ends with the caboose. This structure is an excellent model text for expository writing.

His books make a great addition to any classroom library. The photographs are captivating and the information is accessible by elementary readers.

[Jc]

Trains are beautiful to watch and the various designs make them interesting as well.

[Karla]

Beautiful pictures

A little lengthy but great for one on one readings

[Emerson Watts]

It's a very good book and teaches you quite a bit of nice things

[Michaela Walsh]

Title: Seymour Simon's Book of Trains
Author: Seymour Simon
Illustrator:
Genre: photographic essay
Theme(s): trains, information
Opening line/sentence: “trains made the world a different place”
Brief Book Summary: This book has magnificent pictures of all different kinds of trains. Each type of train has a different informational page written about it, followed by tons of photographs of real life trains.
Professional Recommendation/Review #1:
Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2002 (Vol. 70, No. 1))
Young trainiacs rejoice! The inimitable author of Seymour Simon's Book of Trucks (2000) offers a companion volume featuring the same sort of huge, bright, sharply focused color photos paired to succinct descriptive and historical commentary. Sandwiched between an attention-grabbing gallery of locomotive headshots and elevated closing views of a pair of crowded rail yards lit by a low sun, the author introduces rolling stock, past and present-from quaint cog railways to state-of-the-art bullet trains, plus an array of freight and tank cars. Simon continues to irritate lazy readers by refusing to caption his pictures; instead, he alludes to them in the accompanying text, adding anecdotes, detail, and background information in typically calm, orderly prose. Detail-lovers might wish to know just which trains they are seeing, and a bibliography or list of Web sites at the end would not have been amiss-but big machinery has never looked better. 2002, HarperCollins, $16.95. Category: Nonfiction. Ages 7 to 9. © 2002 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
(PUBLISHER: HarperCollins Publishers ([New York]:), PUBLISHED: c2002.)
Professional Recommendation/Review #2:
Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly)
In Seymour Simon's Book of Trains, the author dedicates one spread each to various kinds of trains, with a full-color photograph on one side and, opposite, a couple of paragraphs describing it. He covers everything from old-fashioned diesel trains to subways that run on electricity to France's TGV (with speeds of between 200-300 mph). A series of spreads on the freight train details different kinds of cars. (Mar.)
(PUBLISHER: HarperCollins Publishers ([New York]:), PUBLISHED: c2002.)
Response to Two Professional Reviews: I thought these reviews were interesting, especially the first one that writes, “Simon continues to irritate lazy readers by refusing to caption his pictures; instead, he alludes to them in the accompanying text, adding anecdotes, detail, and background information in typically calm, orderly prose.’ This was very insightful to me, because I didn't even think about the fact that many children are going to want to know what exact trains they're looking at.
Evaluation of Literary Elements: Obviously, this book is primarily made up of photographs that are very detailed and informative. These pictures are paired with an informational paragraph making this a great read for students because they can see the pictures of real life things, and also learn about them at the same time.
Consideration of Instructional Application: This would be a great book to keep in the classroom as an informational text for students. The pictures give great insight, as does the information about trains. The information isn't overbearing, so students would probably be more likely to pick this book over a text heavy book, yet they will still learning a lot.

[Amy (Bossy Bookworm)]

Good GRIEF, there's so much text in this book! The plodding detail (to the level of how the clutch helps the train go) puts me to sleep, and it's too long for a pre-bed book, but man, does Henry adore it. I wish he could read it to himself.

[Alicia]

I really like that this book has photographs of trains and it is really informative.

[Colin E.c.]

i like it; it's cool.

[Cole Finnian]

big fave of Cole's from Auntie Bridget! A basic primer on trains.

[Jim]

this is porn for train fans. give this book and sam posey's as a gift and you'll make an adult happy.
and it is intelligently written at a kid's level

[Deanne Dean]

very informative