Engilina's Trains by Andrew King, Benjamin Johnston (illustrator) Series: Engibear #3
Published by Little Steps Publishing on 2017
Genres: Picture Book
Format: Hardcover
Source: Personal book collection
I’m a big fan of books for children that incorporate STEM themes, and the Engibear picture books by Andrew King and Benjamin Johnston are long-time favourites, with a perfect mix of engaging story, interesting facts, and clever illustrations adding extra details to particularly capture the attention of those readers who like to understand how things work. My younger son was fascinated with trains, so the third book in the series, Engilina’s Trains, was a particular favourite (Little Steps Publishing, 2017). The book combines the town planning and development process required to prepare for a new Maglev train, as well as restoring a beloved steam train from the city’s past as part of the 150 year celebrations of the Munnagong rail network. Modern trains. Historical trains. Train celebrations. What’s not to love?
Engilina’s Trains encourages learning about the physics and logistics of preparing a railway route or the range of skills needed to restore an old engine to its former glory, without overwhelming kids who are simply interested in a fun story about trains. The details are there for those who want more, and I confess that reading it again for the first time in a few years, I’ve found myself fascinated once again with the format of the story and impressed with the skilful balance between entertainment and education.
If you have a budding engineer or young train enthusiast, I highly recommend Engilina’s Trains and the other books in the Engibear series, Engibear’s Dream and Engibear’s Bridge.
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