Clackety Track: Poems about Trains
Age 5+
Picture Books
Queue up for a whistle-stop tour of trains of all kinds, narrated in lively verse and featuring dynamic retro artwork.
Rows of grooves, cables, and bars.
Graffiti rockin’ out the cars.
A badge of rust. A proud oil stain.
There’s nothin’ plain about a train.
Trains of all shapes and sizes are coming down the track — bullet train, sleeper train, underground train, zoo train, and more. All aboard! Skila Brown’s first-class poems, as varied as the trains themselves, reflect the excitement of train travel, while Jamey Christoph’s vintage-style illustrations provide a wealth of authentic detail to pore over.
Creators
Skila Brown has an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is the author of two young adult novels and the picture book Slickety Quick: Poems about Sharks, illustrated by Bob Kolar. Skila Brown lives in Indiana.
Jamey Christoph has illustrated numerous picture books. His illustrations have also appeared in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and elsewhere. He lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Reviews
Skila Brown’s first-class poems, as varied as the trains themselves, reflect the excitement of train travel, while Jamey Christoph’s vintage-style illustrations provide a wealth of authentic detail to pore over.
SacaKat
Brown plays with alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia, utilising a selection of rhyming schemes, while Christoph’s illustrations work seamlessly with the text to create shape poetry and a feeling of nostalgia for train travel.
Kids' Book Review
The colourful zoo illustrations are a delight.
Wondrous Words
5 stars. A terrific picture book with poems about trains… This is a delightful book to introduce youngsters to poetry via the ever-popular medium of trains.
Glam Adelaide
