From the Bookshelf of Mock Caldecott 2026…
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This is a longer picture book that skews a little older than many Caldecott choices, but still an excellent choice. The palette captures the dusty feel of the great plains the train is traveling across. Floca does not seem to be going for comprehensive history here, but focuses in on one family's imagined experience riding the transcontinental railroad.
My favorite parts were the diagrams of the trains and exactly how they worked. Floca does such a great job including all the tiny details that in ...more
My favorite parts were the diagrams of the trains and exactly how they worked. Floca does such a great job including all the tiny details that in ...more
Great non-fiction makes you enthusiastic about subjects that you'd never given any thought to (see: Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot). Throw in detailed, realistic, yet evocative illustrations and attention to detail in the book-making you have something special. Railroad timetables get hidden under the jacket flaps in a library copy, but not the main illustrations/maps that decorate the endpapers. And check under the jacket for some bison. Plus the paper is nice and thick. And
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When I was a kid I was crazy about trains. So I would have loved this book that talks about the impact train travel had on the landscape of the USA. Now as an adult while I can appreciate its qualities, there is an awareness of our troubled history that somewhat taints the story for me.
The iron horse was at the intersection of industrialization and romance, and Floca captures this perfectly with his light mechanical explanations paired with the finest illustrations and prose.
Frontiers and the technology required to explore them have long captured the imagination: before space and rockets, it was our own skies through the airplane; and earlier still, the west and the locomotive. Here it is, massive and steaming in all of its loud, sooty, iron glory, built on the blood of its w ...more
Frontiers and the technology required to explore them have long captured the imagination: before space and rockets, it was our own skies through the airplane; and earlier still, the west and the locomotive. Here it is, massive and steaming in all of its loud, sooty, iron glory, built on the blood of its w ...more
OK, I'm a couple of years late. This book has "distinguished illustrations" and opens the door to discussions about the building of this country's railroad by people of color. Well told, engaging, and informative.
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Impressed by how much research the author did. Also how he was able to compose the history of the locomotive in poetry, play with typography, and illustrate this book beautifully.
Locomotive, by Brian Floca is impressive in nearly every way. Artistry flows from both the illustrations and narrative arch of this steam-powered giant. Don't be surprised if this beautiful book has a couple of awards attached to its name in January.
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AMAZING illustrations!
Titlewave.com has predicted 2014 award winners and this is one of them. I'm trying to read as many as possible before the winners are announced. ...more
Titlewave.com has predicted 2014 award winners and this is one of them. I'm trying to read as many as possible before the winners are announced. ...more
Couldn't stop reading and looking and staring and rereading this book. Truly a masterwork. Nothing else published this year even comes close to touching it.
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Beautiful illustrations allow the reader to travel along with a family on the transcontinental railroad
The wide pages are a nice relation to the wide planes the locomotive is crossing. The interesting typography is nice as well. I'm using the word nice because that's the extent of my excitement. Nice.
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Caldecott Award Winner for this year...this book is a beautifully illustrated and well-written account of the history of the train in the United States. Fascinating piece of history!
