Title: Locomotive
Author/Illustrator: Brian Floca
Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
Publish Date: September 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-1416994152
Age Range: 4-10
Lexile: 640L
Every young child wants to ride a train, wave at the conductor as it zooms past, or blow the whistle! Well now in Brian Floca's imaginative and creative non-fiction story about the transcontinental railroad, their dreams are about to come true.
In this Caldecott Medal Winner and Sibert Honor book, trains come alive. Experience the continental railroad of 1869 through the eyes of passengers and workers alike. This creatively informational book tells the story of how the railroad was built, run, and experienced in amazing detail and with beautiful illustrations.
Brian Floca uses descriptive words and illustrations to tell the story while at the same time he has included information boxes and maps to relate informational facts about the railroad, the people, and the trains themselves.
Floca does an excellent job of capturing the readers attention with the use of alliterations, repetition, and onomatopoeia. Through these word choices and descriptive words, Floca is able to inform a child about trains, how the railroad was made, and the experience from the passenger’s perspective. Not only does a child become informed of these processes, they are transported into the past through all their senses.
Locomotive is an example of a narrative non-fiction book that uses illustrations and clever wording to capture the child’s attention. This story would be an excellent read-out loud. Allowing the children access to this beautiful story for their own exploration after it has been read to them, will be an exciting learning process.
Not only does Floca include resources for more information about trains and the railroad at the end of the book, his website also includes teaching resources. Including poems, studies, common core links, blogs, and videos assisting teachers to engage young students in the world on non-fiction.
Another interesting website resource for children to learn about the transcontinental railroad would be the Kiddle Kids encyclopedia facts.
Steam, Smoke, and Steel by Patrick O’Brian and The Transcontinental Railroad by John Perritano are two books that would complement Locomotive by Brian Floca well. Steam, Smoke and Steel is a story of a boy who’s father works as a conductor. Through the boy’s story, the reader learns about trains and how things are run. The Transcontinental Railroad describes the process of who the railroad came about. These resources would be an excellent way to introduce new vocabulary that coincide with illustrations with a lot of fun facts along the way.
I liked this book too. Super suggestions of other books to read. I liked your book cover and overview at the top of your review. Excellent use of the interior pages in your discussion. Keep up the great work. I look forward to following you. Annette
ReplyDeleteVery detailed review! I love how you not only mentioned the other resources from the author, but also added a link to them. It's also really helpful that you mention how the book might be used (as a read aloud), as many readers may miss out on opportunities like that without your guidance.
ReplyDeleteI thought your review was very nicely detailed. I liked that you provided additional resources, and included complementary books as well. The example images that you added were also insightful on how the book looks and reads, which is useful. Great job!
ReplyDeleteYour blog is great! This book looks beautiful! I have never read it before so I will definitely check it out! You have some fun suggestions planned for activities to partner with this book. I'm sure you would be able to find so many train themed crafts on Pinterest.
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