Thomas' ABC Book (Thomas & Friends)

Thomas and Friends

by W. Awdry

Based on The Railway Series by the REV. W. AWDRY
A is for All Aboard! Filled with fun photographs from the popular TV show, Shining Time Station, Thomas's ABC Book will delight children while teaching them the alphabet along the way.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Trains, Fiction, Transport, Kids, Storytime

24 pages, Paperback

First published January 12, 1988

About the author

Wilbert Vere Awdry, OBE, better known as the Rev. W. Awdry, was an English clergyman, railway enthusiast and children's author, and creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, who starred in Awdry's acclaimed Railway Series.

The characters that would make Awdry famous, and the first stories featuring them, were invented in 1943 to amuse his son Christopher during a bout of measles. The first book (The Three Railway Engines) was published in 1945, and by the time Awdry stopped writing in 1972, The Railway Series numbered 26 books. Christopher subsequently added further books to the series.

Reviews

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very special way of helping teach the ABC's to a youngster. My 2 year old granddaughter and I loved it! Each page starts with the letter and they say an extra sentence that corresponds with Thomas and his friends. love it!

[Datoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for pre-k or kindergarten. Just for fun and letter recognition.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son got this for his birthday along with a couple of other Thomas books. He's not a huge fan but he loves all things that move or transport people and objects. We've read it a few times and he went crazy when one of the trains said "poop poop" because that's a "bad word" according to school. So, me being me, I'm thinking to myself was this someone's idea of fun? Editor's last day? Or just a simple typo? Maybe I check out when he watches Thomas but it's not as awful to me as Dora the Explorer or Umizoomi; but I've never heard the trains say poop poop and further more they don't poop so where is this coming from. And aren't they very British for that matter? Maybe poop isn't just for American's but it seems like they would have a classier way to say it. You may wonder why I'm ranting about poop. I am doing the same thing. If your kid likes Thomas, go for this book but you might verbally edit so you can get their little arses in bed. Other than that, to me there was nothing noteworthy about this book. Alphabet books aren't my favorite anyways unless I'm trying to expedite my son to the land of slumber and eye boogers. Even then, I'd probably pick something else. Just saying. Mental note: hide this book tonight so you don't have to read it again. Alright, poop poop, I'm out.

[Jody Kyburz · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be fair, I am not well acquainted with Thomas & Friends, but for the interview with the 3 year old I chose this in hopes it was something with which he may be familiar. I chose a Thomas ABC book, a color book, and a triangle book. It will be interesting to see which book the kiddo chooses first (if any at all).

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always glad to see ABC books that do something different than the usual "A is for apple", and it was an added bonus that the images in this Thomas book were from the TV show I grew up watching as a kid. A lot of the Thomas books I've read lately are illustrated differently, so this was such a nice surprise that brought me right back to my childhood.

[Amy the book-bat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute alphabet book. My client enjoyed it and we spent a lot of time going over the letters. He said he wants to learn to read and this book will help with that. There is not a lot of text on a page, which helps with the shorter attention spans. One thing I thought was odd, T is for tracks instead of Thomas. Anyway, we spent some fun time together reading this book.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t love Thomas books (but my son does!). This one is better than others. It kept his interest the whole time. Just ok but we are keeping it because my son loves trains.

[Stephen Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, original & sweet!!!!!!!

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute book love Thomas the train

[Jecel Cortes · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is a nice little kid book but, I didn't really find it interesting but I read it to my little brother and I think he liked it.

[Israel Cortes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like there are so many ABCs.

[Craig Hopley]

1995-2001 - A
2002-2008 - B
2009-2015 - C
2016-2022 - D
2023-PRE - E

[Bonnie Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book about Thomas and his friends, and it was an ABC book. Unlike other reviewers, I don't mind "cheating" and using the word eXpress (that's actually a plus- hooray! It's an ABC book that doesn't use either xylophone or x-ray for the letter X!). That's about it for the positives, though. The minus: While my kids do like Thomas, they're really only very casual fans and haven't really watched all that much of the show. Unfortunately, this book isn't for casual fans. Quite a few of the pages in this book just didn't make a ton of sense to me, as the pictures and sentences that went with each letter were still frames from the show and were pretty obviously referencing things that happened in episodes that we evidently haven't seen, which didn't always make a ton of intrinsic sense without my having seen whatever episode was referenced. Why does Gordon say, "Poop, Poop!" for being strong? Why do freight cars say, "Trick-trock?" (maybe they just always say Trick-trock? I don't know. This page rather confused my 5-year-old). The statement that Terence tells Thomas about his tracks for the letter T makes sense on it's own, but why in the world does Thomas look so terribly put out about that fact in the picture? And so on. If T wasn't obsessed with ABC books and specifically requested a "train ABC book" at the library today, I probably wouldn't have bothered to pick this up. As it was, it did mostly manage to keep his attention, so I'm giving it 3 stars despite the pages that didn't make much sense to me.

[Skylar Burris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loathe the Thomas books. They bore me in a way I have not been bored since attempting to read the Wealth of Nations. Their dryness, their bland technicalities, the entire method of narration...it all makes me want to bury them in the bottom of the trash. And yet…my 20 month old son will sit in rapt attention on my lap, page by page, as I read them. He will sit still. He will listen. He will look and point. And then he will demand that I read it again the moment I am done. I liked this ABC book because it was more tolerable for me to read…no mind numbing story, just simple sentences to represent the letters. The pictures are quite vibrant; this is probably a good book for teaching the ABC's to a male toddler or early preschooler.

[Faith Barron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas' ABC Book, is a wonderful book for ELL students in Pre-K and Kindergarten. This book introduces all the letters of the alphabet along with a sentence that really emphasizes that letter. Since Thomas is a well known character for younger children this is the perfect book because the children are able to connect Thomas the train and all his friends with the letters of the alphabet. Using this book with ELL's is just a great way to show that learning letters that can be difficult, can also be fun. This is just an all around wonderful book to introduce letters to students.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 2 out of 5]

No author listed, Thomas' ABC Book (Random House, 1998)

Points off: No author listed.

Very heavily integrated into the Thomas the Tank Engine/Shining Time Station universe, which should surprise exactly no one, but that does carry with it the caveat that this is not necessarily a book for casual fans of the series, but more for the obsessed (like my son). There are a few times when things seem as if they were stretched a bit to fit (and they totally cheat on X), but otherwise worth a go as long as your kid is a huge fan of the series. **

[Ashlee]

Thomas' ABC Book, is an ABC children's book by Wilbert Awdry. Thomas' ABC Book is about Thomas the Train Tank Engine and his friends going on an adventure. This book is full of pictures to help the children learn their ABC's. Each sentence begins with a letter of the alphabet, starting with the letter A. This book engages the students and it talks about Thomas and his friends. This is a great book to use in my classroom because it describes each letter of the alphabet with a sentence and a picture that engages the students because children love Thomas the Train.

[Brittany Harper]

This book is great for fans of Thomas the Train because it is filled with fun pictures from the television show, Shining Time Station. This book is simple enough for young readers while making sure to teach them the alphabet in a clear and concise way. It is definitely a book that I would read to a pre-k class or kindergarten class. It manages to be colorful and engaging but at the same time does not overwhelm the reader with too many details on each page. This book would definitely help students with letter recognition by associating the letter with something they are familiar with.

[jacky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read most of this to Natalie at play group. We watch Thomas sometimes, but not enough for her to recognize the characters like she does Sesame Street. This would be a very exciting book for a Thomas lover or a lover of trains and vehicles in general, but since Natalie isn't into any of that (yet?) it was just alright. I liked that it was the old Thomas, not the new computer animated one.

[Tiara Patterson]

This book I did not car for too much. It was pretty plain and kind of boring. They gave an example for each letter and used it in a sentence, but for some examples I think it would be difficult for young readers to understand if they did not know the characters or some parts of the train. It was difficult to keep my interest in this book.

[Helen Cox]

This is an alphabet book featuring Thomas and HIs Friends. Each letter features either one of thomas' friends or an object on the railroad. Add letter stickers to trains for playful way to learn letters and word formation! There are ways to play for kiddos who are just learning their ABC’s to those starting to read words.

[Armanda Campbell]

As a child I loved Thomas the train, so this is a great book for younger children to learn their alphabets as well as words that begin with the letters. This is a television show that many children watch, so I'm sure that they would love to read a book with one of their favorite characters in it.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic picture book which gives an example of Thomas and Friends for each letter of the alphabet.
The worst example is X for eXpress..wow..that's just..no!!

My daughter likes the trains so she sits through the entire read for bed time.

[Natalie Pietro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this book 3 stars but my 3 year old fought me and said 4 mommy. He would ask for this book a lot and loved saying the letters with me. However I found it old fashion and slow. Still if my son liked it so it can't be all that bad.

[Dmills]

Thomas the Tank Engine is another really great show that I watched a lot as a child so after reading the book there would probably be a few cool clips or a full show we could watch dealing with the alphabet.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book was fine until we got to the letter "M": It stands for "Men" as in "The men who drive the engine stand inside the cab." Geesh! Can't they find a better word for "M"?

[Aspasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son recently discovered Thomas the Tank Engine and he was obsessed with this book.

[Danny · Rating 2 out of 5]

We don't have the ABC, but we have a counting book. Much less objectionable than the longer stories.

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

We don't have the ABC, but we have a counting book. Much less objectionable than the longer stories.

[Anne]

We reread this one all the time...a favorite