The Best Book of Trains (Best Books
of) by Richard Balkwill
Love Trains-Buy Book
Trains are a topic of endless fascination for young readers, from the
powerful engine to the charming caboose and everything in-between. With
accessible text, information that goes beyond the basics, and a small
format that’s perfect for little hands, The Best Book of Trains covers
everything about the history of the rail—a perfect, affordable take along for
young train lovers on the go.
Personal Review: The Best Book of Trains (Best Books of) by
Richard Balkwill
While intended for libraries, I would highly recommend this book for the
home. It was published in 1999 and favours British terminology, but it is an
excellent book for the young child who delights in learning about the

subject of trains. Most notably the picture-to-text ratio is well balanced--
making a non-fiction book that parents can read to a child with enough
picture detail (not too much, not too little) to hold a child's imagination and
to aid further discussion of the text.
I would recommend this book over the DK "big book of..." series because
the DK series has too many pictures and not enough text to help a young
child place the information in a coherent world view. The Best Book of
Trains lives up to the adage of less is more. More than once I have found
my son "reading" this book to himself. He has yet to start school and his
reading consists of looking at the pictures and remembering as much of
the story as he can from the last reading with Dad or Mom.
Despite the 1999 publishing date the book holds up amazingly well with
time both in terms of pictures and information. There may be faster trains
in the world now, but apart from the reference to the 'American Flyer' train
that was to be brought into service by Amtrak in 1999 there was nothing
that detracts from the quality or authority of the book.
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