The Night Train

By Author / Illustrator

Matilda Woods, Penny Neville-Lee

Genre

Magical Realism

Age range(s)

Publisher

Little Tiger Press Group

ISBN

9781788952248

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

12-10-2023

Synopsis

With a shrill whistle the Night Train is off, delivering its passengers to children's dreams. The yeti, the ballet dancer, the friendly monster and the princess all have starring roles. Then the train comes to an unexpected halt. A tree has fallen across the track and there's no way the guard can move it on his own. It's a race against time and the passengers will need to use all their talents to get the train moving again. Can they reach their dreams before midnight?

An uplifting story celebrating the power of working together by Matilda Woods, author of THE BOY, THE BIRD AND THE COFFIN MAKER, gorgeously illustrated by debut artist Penny Neville-Lee. The Colour Fiction books are a range of simple stories for new readers, with beautiful colour illustrations.

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Reviews

The Night Train is a wonderful introduction to chapter books as the chapters are short and include lovely colour illustrations. Children aged five plus would enjoy listening to this book; those aged seven plus would love to read it independently.

The story tells the tale of the Night Train on its way to dreams. Four characters are trying to get to their child's dream. Suddenly, something goes wrong and the train stops. Will the characters get to the children's dreams in time?

This Night Train adventure is a story of not judging people straight away and understanding that we are all different but if we work together we can overcome anything. The characters need to solve a problem and the only way to do this is as a team.

I love the way this story has been written; I could not put the book down and I read it in one sitting. As the nights draw in, I will be reading this to my daughter. Which of the characters will then appear in her dreams? The illustration in this book are incredible. I could imagine prints of them being on the walls of children's bedrooms around the world - I would buy illustrations by this artist. What a joy to read!

96 pages / Reviewed by Jen Bevan, teacher