Blue Train, Green Train

Thomas and Friends

by W. Awdry

Thomas the blue train works all day while Percy the green train works all night. But what exactly do they do? Told in the simplest language, here is a charming tale of a day and night on the Island of Sodor.

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

24 pages, Board Book

First published January 24, 2006

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

[Sharon · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book’s crimes are too many to mention, but I will vent my spleen about the meter.

You’d think a book about trains - two trains, working in a daily rhythm - would perhaps pick a pleasing metrical cadence and rhyme scheme? No!

We start out with a spondaic feel and AAAABB rhyme: “UP COMES,” “WELL DONE,” sun/run/sun/done/train/train. Suddenly it’s a nice trochaic “BLUE train THOmas ON the TRACK…” and an AABBCCDD scheme. Trochaic patterns make sense to me for trains, so I am lulled into a false sense of security.

Then the narrator pivots to ABCB iambs?! “The SUN is YEllow”?? Then AABBCCDD but still iambic??? Then spondees (“DOWN GOES”, “HOME NOW,”) with no real rhyme except a halfhearted internal peep/sleep.

While you, the poor reader, are frenetically lurched from style to style, the story itself offers no consolation. The illustrator sketched an unmistakable sunny, cloudless sky (pp. 4-5) yet the following page says “The clouds are gone. The sun is back.” The sun was already there! There were no clouds! What does this mean!!!

We must wake up to the perils facing our children: incoherent metrical patterns, inconsistent rhymes, and illogical illustrations. Such rhetorical irregularities are the “anthrax in the envelope”, in the words of Laszlo Dobszay that lead to discord in the human heart and ultimately society writ large.

(I’ve read this book to my toddler so many times. This is a cry for help.)

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give this book zero stars, I would.

I get that books for kids are not subjected to the same quality controls as books for adults, but criminy! When an adult will be reading the ostensibly rhyming book to the child, the author should at least attempt a rhyme scheme, meter, and a little sense. Both my husband and I agreed that we'd never read it to our kids again, based solely on how awful it was for us to read out loud.

Actual text from the book:
"Down goes the yellow sun.
Blue Train Thomas' day is done.
Home now to the Shed.
'Peep, peep!'
The Shed is where
Thomas can sleep."

Are we just going to get rid of the ABAB rhyme scheme from previous pages, not even try to make the meter the same, and then throw a line in there with no rhymes at all? Not in my house, sir. Back to the library with you.

[Hilary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thomas works all day while Percy works all night. It's a nice concept with some idea repetition but the rhymes don't quite fit and the rhythm is a little awkward at times. Not one of my favorites for reading out loud.

[Kate prefers books to people · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know how we ended up with this book. Maybe a gift. I doubt I bought it. I remember thinking it was a weird book. Like maybe it had an identity crisis trying to decide on age groups, and it exploded on itself trying to appeal to everyone under 10. It's a board book, so you'd think toddler. Easy reader, so maybe 5-6. It's teaching time and colors, so probably preschool. The rhyming starts and stops almost randomly.

I kept the book because 1) my boys love trains 2) I was working nights at the time and 3) board books get absolutely destroyed after a few kids. I didn't think it would ever be a family favorite, but it is. This book is perfect for my kids. They still love trains. My early reader likes that can hold his toddler sibling while he reads outloud to the preschooler. They're all engaged and together. This is the very first book my daughter asked me to read.

Physically, it's surprisingly durable. The art is standard Thomas.

[Sandra Sy]

"Blue Train, Green Train" by Thomas and friends and illustrated by Tommy Stubbs was published in 2006. This is a great read-aloud book for early readers in K-2nd grade. The story is about a blue train who does his duties in the morning and trades off with the green train who operates until sun-down. The book can teach students the importance of trains and how big of a load they can carry in order to transport goods. I can ask my students to think of examples of two things that trade off with one another, like when passing a baton or playing tag.

[Mat Rueter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminds me how important it is to read to kids and talk about what's going on in the story.

[Aarvik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice read! (Aarvik gave the star)

[Neyda · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this for my niece

[Tommy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mediocre Thomas book. Lots of repetitive verse which gets old kinda quickly.

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fine book for any little Thomas fan, but as a book for teaching colors it's not the best. I think the illustrations were good enough to give a good idea of white, yellow, and blue. But the orange and red illustrations were barely distinguishable. My son also had troubles recognizing that Percy driving at night was green, I think because the darker shade they're using (for night time scenery) is too close to blue for a beginner. The pictures of Percy in the daylight he was able to identify green, so I'll give them half credit for that color ;-).

Overall, there are better books for color recognition out there.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for the little ones. It has rhythmic writing which I like when I am reading to my son so he can listen to my voice and get used to me reading to him. I hope that it will inspire a later love of reading that I have if I continuously read to him.

This book is about Thomas and Percy and their day and night shifts transferring various goods around during the day and night respectively. The goods are described by their colours that I can use to teach my son.

[Anna Nesterovich · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is supposed to be a book for beginning readers: "The words are few and easy, and have a happy, catchy rhythm." Every word of the advertisment is a lie. Well, except maybe for the "catchy" part. Indeed, every line made me catch and stumble on it. The rhymes are stupid, the rhythm is jumpy and uneven. A terrible book for kids.

[JIA QIU · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should be a real treat for Thomas fans to learn colors. Blue train Thomas works in the day and his friend Percy works during night. The book described all kinds of goods loaded on them. For young children, this book can be used to teach them label colors; for older children this book can be used to inform them the utility of a train in the city.

[Shawn Fairweather · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son rec'd a four pack of Thomas books for Xmas with this being one of them. All four books are of typical Thomas fashion using vivid colors, inclusion of many Thomas's friends, and age appropriate storylines that my son highly enjoys. Any book that Parker picks up and hands me to read him gets a thumbs up from me, these books get read much more than others!

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miles likes thomas, obviously. The only thing about this book... at one point "the clouds are gone, the sun is back," but it was only ever sunny to this point. this line about the clouds was only included for rhyming purposes. lame.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evelyn loves this one. She just got two figurines of Thomas and Percy, so this is perfect and we've probably read "trains" 20 times since I picked it up at the library. There aren't as many board books about Thomas as I thought, so this is perfect.

[Natalie Pietro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my sons favorite books. It's a board book that's small and fits perfect in his hands, it's has wonderful bright colored pages, the story had a great rhyming flow, and of coarse it's Thomas the tank engine. Everything my son love.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a level 1-2 "Bright and Early Book for Beginning Readers" book. Many repeatative words most are simple words that would be easy for a new reader. But although this book is 'simple' it still tells a sweet story.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

easy reader. great use of words and rhyme. appealed to viv.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anything Thomas = five stars from Frank

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

My cousin liked it.

[Quintin Bostic]

Every year, there is always that one child who is in love with trains. This is the perfect book for then. This is a fun book for any bookshelf.

[Bree · Rating 2 out of 5]

Notes:
simple repetitive book for train-lovers; both my kids liked this although there are many better books out there for toddlers

[Laci · Rating 3 out of 5]

While readings this book you could do a section on day and night, the differences. This is also a rhyming book for the most part.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 year old grandson requested it each day.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average Thomas book - nothing remarkable or offensive. This was requested for repeated readings (of a library copy) but not requested to purchase.

[Danielle Nicholson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Thomas and Friends

[Lillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gift from Grandpa G and Grandma Susan

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story time kids loved this book. Anything Thomas!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

October 2016