Fast Train, Slow Train


Tommy Stubbs - 2009
    Edward is slow and careful while James is fast and proud. James teases Edward about being such a slowcoach, but Edward is determined to be Really Useful even if he is not fast. A Thomas & Friends version of the classic fable, The Tortoise and the Hare. Perfect for Bright and Early readers!

The Iron Tracks


Aharon Appelfeld - 1991
    His days are filled with drink, his nights with brief love affairs and the torments of his nightmares. What keeps him sane is his mission to collect the menorahs, kiddush cups, and holy books that have survived their vanished owners. And the hope that one day he will find the Nazi officer who murdered his parents--and have the strength to kill him.A haunting exploration of one survivor's complex, wrenching, inner world, The Iron Tracks is distinguished by the depth of insight and the distinctively stark, elegant style that have won Aharon Appelfeld recognition as one of the world's great writers.

Mr. Complain Takes the Train


Wade Bradford - 2021
    Readers will hoot with laughter at this silly sendup of the sourpusses of the world. After all, doesn’t everyone know a Mr. Complain or two?Mr. Complain is ready for his vacation in Dullsville, but on the train ride there, nothing is the way he likes it. First, the engine is too loud. Then, the passengers are too happy. Plus, the cars are too crowded, the seats are too lumpy, and his seatmate is too prickly. And that’s all before the train even leaves the station!             Will Mr. Complain ever be able to relax and enjoy the ride? Find out as he travels through mountains, volcanoes, caves, and even oceans in this silly interactive story that’s perfect for train- and animal-loving kids.

On the Blue Comet


Rosemary Wells - 2010
    (Age 10 and up)One day in a house at the end of Lucifer Street, on the Mississippi River side of Cairo, Illinois, eleven-year-old Oscar Ogilvie's life is changed forever. The Crash of 1929 has rippled across the country, and Oscar's dad must sell their home--with all their cherished model trains--and head west in search of work. Forced to move in with his humorless aunt, Carmen and his teasing cousin, Willa Sue, Oscar is lonely and miserable--until he meets a mysterious drifter and witnesses a crime so stunning it catapults Oscar on an incredible train journey from coast to coast, from one decade to another. Filled with suspense and peppered with witty encounters with Hollywood stars and other bigwigs of history, this captivating novel by Rosemary Wells, gorgeously illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, resonates with warmth, humor, and the true magic of a timeless adventure.

The Hour of Fate: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the Battle to Transform American Capitalism


Susan Berfield - 2020
    Morgan's drive to power. In the summer of 1901, the financier was assembling his next mega-deal: Northern Securities, a scheme that would give him mastery of railroads throughout the vast American West-and their vast profits. Then, a bullet from an anarchist's gun put an end to the business-friendly McKinley presidency. A new chief executive bounded into office: Theodore Roosevelt. He was convinced that as big business got bigger, the government had to check the power and privilege of the rich-or the country would inch ever closer to collapse. By March 1902, battle lines were drawn: the government sued Northern Securities for antitrust violations. But as the case ramped up, the coal miners' union went on strike and the anthracite pits that fueled Morgan's trains and heated the homes of Roosevelt's citizens went silent. With millions of dollars on the line, winter bearing down, and revolution in the air, it was a crisis that neither man alone could solve.Richly detailed and propulsively told, The Hour of Fate is the gripping story of a banker and a president thrown together in the crucible of national emergency even as they fought in court. The outcome of the strike and the case would change the course of our history. Today, as the country again asks whether saving democracy means taming capital, the lessons of Roosevelt and Morgan's time are more urgent than ever.