The Sleeper Train: A moonlit railway adventure set in India perfect for bedtime reading with 3-5 year-olds

by Mick Jackson, Baljinder Kaur (Illustrator)

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR ILLUSTRATION
SHORTLISTED FOR THE V&A ILLUSTRATION AWARD

There is a train which has beds in their own small cabins so that you can sleep while the train rolls through the night. I went on one, not long ago…

Just as it’s starting to get dark, a little girl and her family board the sleeper train – they’ll travel all through the night, and reach their destination in the morning. But as the train rocks from side to side, the little girl can’t sleep. It’s all too exciting!

So, instead, she travels through her memory to all the different places she has slept – from her room at home, to a tent in the wild, to Mum’s old room at Grandma and Grandad’s house... But will that help her to drift off?

Gloriously illustrated in rich colours throughout, and written by a Booker shortlisted author, this captivating bedtime story will take readers on a journey through the vast Indian countryside, and carry them straight on to dreamland.

"A lilting cultural touchstone great for bedtime.” Booklist

"A warm-hearted tale of family love and togetherness .... a soothing bedtime story." Red Reading Hub

“This visually vibrant yet gentle bedtime book promises, like the sleeper train, to calm and soothe readers.” The Horn Book (starred review)

“Comforting, vibrant, soothing.” Kirkus Reviews

“Layers feelings of comfort and warmth across time and space.” Publishers Weekly

35 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 7, 2026

About the author

Mick Jackson (born 1960) is a British writer from England, best known for his novel The Underground Man (1997). The book, based on the life of William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 5th Duke of Portland, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and for the 1997 Whitbread Award for best first novel.

Mick Jackson was born in 1960, in Great Harwood, Lancashire, and educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn.

Jackson worked in local theatre, studied theatre arts at Dartington College of Arts, and played in a rock band called The Screaming Abdabs. In 1990, he enrolled in a creative writing course at the University of East Anglia, and began working on The Underground Man. He has been a full-time writer since 1995.

Jackson's other works are the novels Five Boys (2002) and The Widow's Tale (2010), and the short story collections Ten Sorry Tales (2006) and The Bears of England (2009). Under the pseudonym Kirkham Jackson, he wrote the screenplay for the 2004 television film Roman Road. He lives in Brighton.