Module 1 - The Little Engine That Could

THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD

Bibliographic Information

•           Piper, W., Sanderson, R., & Bragg, M. C. (1976). The little engine that could. New York: Platt & Munk.

Summary
A train of toys and supplies must make a daily trek over hills and mountains to a small city so the boys and girls that live there will have food and toys.  Unfortunately, the engine breaks down just before climbing the final hill for the station.  Other engines travel by, but give excuses on why they cannot or will not help the train climb the hill.  Finally a little engine used only in the switchyard comes to the rescue of the train with the phrase "I think I can, I think I can."

My Impressions
Very cute and sweet book.  The reading level and story development is much more involved than I remember from the Little Golden Book version of this story I read as a child.  It reads very much like the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and has a similar theme.  Children love trains, and love to read the signature phrases of this book in a train-like rhythm for class participation.

Reviews
Lewis, M. (1976). The Little Engine That Could (Book Review). [Review of The little engine that could, by W. Piper, R. Sanderson, & M. C. Bragg]. School Library Journal, 23(1), 104.

This Golden Anniversary edition of an old favorite has been enlarged to 10 1/4" x 12 1/4" size, end-papered in an overall pattern of little blue engines, and re-illustrated with pallid, cluttered neo-twenties illustrations framed in geometric borders.  They've also hoked it up with a duck in a bonnet who appears somewhere on each page, the shiny new engine, and done a token integration of the children"on the other side of the mountain."  The fussy coyness of this update has unnecessarily tampered with the bright directness of the original: the new panoramic top-of-the-mountain scene, for example, con't compare with the breathless drama of the picture of the kind little blue engine backed by the gorgeous sunrise.  Although the text has remained the same, the original perfection of sturdy shape and simplicity has been lost.  Too bad.  --Marjorie Lewis, Scarsdale Public Library, N.Y.

Library Usage
I like to introduce classics to young readers at story time, so this is an early in the year story time read for me to my classes.  I also like to point out to them and other readers the use of rhythm in the text so that the onomatopoeic effect is more easily identified.