Trains

 

Trains

By Lee Sullivan Hill

Photographs by Howard Ande

Lerner Publications Company, 2003

32 pages 

Nonfiction

          Trains is an easy-to-read informational picture book with a descriptive structure. It introduces young children to the different parts of a train including the locomotive, engineer, the different types of cars, and even a coupler. The book is full of photographs that clearly define what is being discussed. There are no captions in this book, however there is a glossary, index, and about the author and photographer sections. It also includes two additional resources in the back, a brief summary of train facts and an illustration page comparing types of train cars.

          Trains would be a great resource when discussing a transportation unit in K-2nd Grade. This book would also work as a great introduction to nonfiction books due to its simple glossary and easy-to-follow index. The reading level on this book is about a first grade level. There are no more than three simple sentences on a page, so this book would be great for to introduce other books to students who may be stuck on Thomas and Chuggington books. Teachers could also use this book as a vocabulary lesson to help their students advance beyond Tier 1 words like train, people, and cars and into Tier 2 words like locomotive, passengers, boxcar, and hopper car.