This is a train book. Most importantly it is a Thomas the Tank Engine book; and to a 3 year old, nothing is as exciting as a race between two of his steamy friends: little Thomas and mighty Gordon.

Over on Amazon, some moms have bemoaned that Thomas wins the race through trickery, But I like to think of it as Thomas winning by *thinking* rather than shear brawn. (What kind of a `real' race is it anyway between a huge steamy and little ole Thomas? Gordon might as well have been racing Toby the steam tram.)

As far as the text is concerned, I have to say that the rhyme is awkward. I believe the author would have been better off using 54+ words to get better verse, but I guess that did not fit into the magic scheme of 50.

What does work is the `catch me, catch me, go, go, go" action-rhythm and the nicely drawn pictures. Very addicting to Thomas aficionados.

"Look, a tunnel!
A tunnel for me!
A tunnel Gordon did not see!"

"I may be slow,
You may be fast.
But I am first,
And you are last!"

As of this moment, we have not begun reading, so I can not speak to the effectiveness of the games at the end. But the `rectangles' on the included sheet sure seem small and I would have to think it would take awhile to cut them out. I would probably just copy those same words on 3x5 cards. ( )