I Can Make a Train Noise

Starred review from May 24, 2021
On a chilly afternoon, a white family makes their way into a crowded coffee shop under the train tracks. Their toddler, wowed by a train whooshing by overhead, announces, “I can make a train noise,” then repeats, “I can make a train noise. I can make a train noise,” ending the chant with an emphatic “Now!” The child’s words mimic the chugga-chugga rhythm of the train, and they conjure up magic as the café’s customers are swept away on a fantasy journey down the tracks. The chant continues straight through, varying in volume and velocity as the child pilots the train through scenery that, In the Night Kitchen–style, includes cookery and restaurant mainstays, such as ketchup and mustard bottles. Everyone is returned to the cozy café transformed, as Fitzpatrick (Owl Bat Bat Owl) shows in thought bubbles that picture how the passengers’ moods have lifted. Emberley (Baby’s Firsts) celebrates the power of children to live in many worlds at once—and, at the same time, the power of trains to make journeys communal. Ages 4–6. Author’s agent: Rick Richter, Aevitas Creative Management. Illustrator’s agent: Eunice McMullen.

June 1, 2021
A child's abundant imagination transforms a coffee shop into an adventure on an intercity train. The child, bundled up in winter attire, enters a coffee shop with parents and a baby sibling. The shop is nestled under a railway bridge abutment; as the family enters the shop, a train zooms by overhead. This prompts the child to say: "I can make a train noise." The child repeats this with increasing enthusiasm, imagining everyone in the shop standing and lining up like cars on a train. Next, the walls of the shop become a train; the condiments on the table become the buildings it passes; and the child is at the train's controls. The child repeatedly chants, "I can make a train noise, now, now" or a variation thereof. Changes in type size and placement, punctuation, and sentence rhythm are employed to mimic the train's speed, making this a story that begs to be read aloud. The spreads are filled with details; scenes in the cafe give readers peeks at people's thoughts via speech bubbles filled with visuals. Assured lines convey the horizontal movement of the train, which makes for compelling page-turns. The clipped pace of the narrative delights. Readers may be left wondering how much of the adventure springs from the child's imagination--the concluding cafe scene is slyly suggestive. The child and family are White; the cafe is filled with people with a range of skin colors. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Exhilarating. (Picture book. 3-6)

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2021
Preschool-Kindergarten A family walks into a caf� beneath some train tracks, their daughter toddling close behind in a red winter coat and bright yellow hat with a pompom puff. Though the caf� is crowded, its customers are either lost in their thoughts, which appear in gray-and-white bubbles, or having dull conversations on academics and the weather. This is the scene when the little girl announces, "I can make a train noise." Her parents don't pay much attention, as they find a table and get everyone situated, but the girl is undeterred. She repeats herself twice more, adding, "NOW!" With a whooshing motion, the caf� transforms into a train on the go, the little girl at the controls with the customers her passengers. Illustrations using acrylic paint, pencil, and digital techniques combine to form snapshots of the impromptu journey down the tracks, powered by the little girl's imagination, her unchanging words chugging along beside the shifting scenes. Creative placement of words and the size of the font guides the reader's rhythm and volume, making reading aloud a must.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 24, 2021

PreS-Gr 1-A little girl enters a bustling cafe holding her mother's hand. Her father carries the baby, and their little dog runs around their feet. Every person in the busy place is either on their device or talking. Unnoticed, the little girl, who is white, says, "I can make a train noise." She continues to repeat this phrase over and over until readers get the idea that the sound of her statement is akin to the sound a moving train makes. The cafe transforms into a train throughout as she adds to her phrase: "I can make a train noise, now, now." Kids will get the idea that it sounds just like "chugga, chugga, choo, choo." Artwork is predominantly in blues, reds, and browns and is done in acrylic and pencil with added digital effects. The illustrations are filled with details of the people riding the train; there is always something to look at. This is a book that begs to be read several times through with audience participation. VERDICT A perfect read aloud for libraries where little train lovers gather.-Tracy Cronce, Stevens Point Pub. Sch. District, WI

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2021
The action begins on the book's cover, where readers can spot a young child and her family walking down a busy city street, headed into a bustling cafe. Inside, they encounter even more noise among its preoccupied patrons, whose thought and speech bubbles fill the page with gray clouds, worries, and complaints. The young child looks out at the readers, asserting, "I can make a train noise now!" (This sentence and its variants compose the entire text.) Soon she hops off her chair and, through a portal in the book, sweeps her surroundings into new order as the cafe becomes a car on a speeding train. Across each subsequent spread, the font of the propulsive refrain/mantra ("I can make a train noise, I can make a train noise, I can make a train noise, now!") grows, shrinks, and swerves, offering cues for an engaging read-aloud experience. The train races through an In the Night Kitchen-esque cityscape of tall condiments and kitchen tools, whistles through a tunnel, and emerges into spacious, serene landscapes. As the train finally returns to the city and slows to a stop -- "I...can...make...a...train...noooiiissssssse...now!" -- and the passengers rearrange themselves into the more-familiar cafe, the former gloom and grayness has been transformed into cheer and community. Lush with colorful and richly detailed illustrations, this innovative picture book compels its readers to get on board with the sound, speed, and rhythm of a train powered by a child's imagination. Grace McKinney

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2021
The action begins on the book's cover, where readers can spot a young child and her family walking down a busy city street, headed into a bustling cafe. Inside, they encounter even more noise among its preoccupied patrons, whose thought and speech bubbles fill the page with gray clouds, worries, and complaints. The young child looks out at the readers, asserting, "I can make a train noise now!" (This sentence and its variants compose the entire text.) Soon she hops off her chair and, through a portal in the book, sweeps her surroundings into new order as the cafe becomes a car on a speeding train. Across each subsequent spread, the font of the propulsive refrain/mantra ("I can make a train noise, I can make a train noise, I can make a train noise, now!") grows, shrinks, and swerves, offering cues for an engaging read-aloud experience. The train races through an In the Night Kitchen-esque cityscape of tall condiments and kitchen tools, whistles through a tunnel, and emerges into spacious, serene landscapes. As the train finally returns to the city and slows to a stop -- "I...can...make...a...train...noooiiissssssse...now!" -- and the passengers rearrange themselves into the more-familiar cafe, the former gloom and grayness has been transformed into cheer and community. Lush with colorful and richly detailed illustrations, this innovative picture book compels its readers to get on board with the sound, speed, and rhythm of a train powered by a child's imagination. Grace McKinney

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2021
The action begins on the book's cover, where readers can spot a young child and her family walking down a busy city street, headed into a bustling cafe. Inside, they encounter even more noise among its preoccupied patrons, whose thought and speech bubbles fill the page with gray clouds, worries, and complaints. The young child looks out at the readers, asserting, "I can make a train noise now!" (This sentence and its variants compose the entire text.) Soon she hops off her chair and, through a portal in the book, sweeps her surroundings into new order as the cafe becomes a car on a speeding train. Across each subsequent spread, the font of the propulsive refrain/mantra ("I can make a train noise, I can make a train noise, I can make a train noise, now!") grows, shrinks, and swerves, offering cues for an engaging read-aloud experience. The train races through an In the Night Kitchen-esque cityscape of tall condiments and kitchen tools, whistles through a tunnel, and emerges into spacious, serene landscapes. As the train finally returns to the city and slows to a stop -- "I...can...make...a...train...noooiiissssssse...now!" -- and the passengers rearrange themselves into the more-familiar cafe, the former gloom and grayness has been transformed into cheer and community. Lush with colorful and richly detailed illustrations, this innovative picture book compels its readers to get on board with the sound, speed, and rhythm of a train powered by a child's imagination.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)