Chuggington: The Chugger Championship

by Michael Anthony Steele (Adapted by), Claudia Silver, Sarah Ball

It's a hot new train property for the 21st century. All aboard!

It's time for the annual Chugger Championship race! Wilson and Koko are both determined to win. But when Wilson breaks down during the race, will Koko come to the rescue or make a break for the finish line?

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Transport

24 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Michael Anthony Steele is an author and screenwriter living in Dallas, Texas. He’s written for a wide variety of entertainment and educational properties from Barney & Friends to the novelization of the recent film, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. He’s written over 60 licensed books for such major properties as Shrek, Penguins of Madagascar, Wordgirl, The Batman, Garfield, Spider-man, Speed Racer, Winx Club, Sly Cooper, and many more. Anthony’s television experience begins with the award-winning PBS series Wishbone and carries him all the way to writing 25 episodes of Barney & Friends and 4 DVDs of Boz: The Green Bear Next Door.

Between writing projects, Anthony is thrilled to give presentations to schools and libraries across the country. Having been fortunate enough to write for so many famous brands, his appearances require very little preparation on the part of the instructors because, most likely, the kids are fans of one or more of the properties for which he’s written.

Anthony’s current presentation features multimedia elements and tells the story of how he became a writer—following an exciting path through a career in photography and special effects. His appearances have been described as the “rock-n-roll” author visits since he comes with an animated presentation, humor, audio/visual elements, loads of energy, and a guitar—that’s right, a guitar!

His life’s journey has given him unique experience and the ability to share behind-the-scenes knowledge, tell stories, and answer questions not only about writing but also about the film and television industry. More importantly, the main theme of his program is how, with hard work and determination, the students can achieve anything they wish. Anthony was in elementary school when he was first inspired to become a writer and they too can get inspired right now! It’s just that simple and exciting!

Reviews

[midnightfaerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's Chuggington. Really, what else is there to say? A typical Chugginton story with bright colorful pictures that attract the attention of my preschoolers, even though they could care less what the story is. I'm glad they like it, but I'm more concerned with getting them engaged in books and their content. It's somewhere between a level 1 and 2 reading book, so my 5 yr old can get practice reading it to them, however, they rarely sit long enough to listen to the actual story. Once again, too many words for their target audience, just another example of a company trying to make money based on a label/character.

[Gemma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun story with a good lesson

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

We picked this book up from our public library.

If you have ever watched the show Chugginton than you will know who these characters are. This story is about a race between Wilson and Koko and you see how Koko reacts to not being the winner. But hey winning is not everything helping those that need your help is a whole lot better. But who will be the winner? This is a good story for 3 on up.

[Rochelle Sondae · Rating 3 out of 5]

In some ways I like Chuggington better than "that other train character". The stories are shorter and are more enjoyable to read aloud.

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Cars," but with trains.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story just like watching an episode of Chuggington.

[Kaiju Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's okay. My son loves it though. I've read it so many times I change the plot around, but get called out for it most of the time. Puffer Pete is fun to voice.