How to Train a Train - Jason Carter Eaton

How to Train a Train

By: Jason Carter Eaton, John Rocco (Illustrator)

Board Book | 1 September 2016

At a Glance

Board Book


$14.99

or 4 interest-free payments of $3.75 with

Available for Backorder. We will order this from our supplier however there isn't a current ETA.

Everything you need to know about finding, keeping, and training your very own pet train.

Finding advice on caring for a dog, a cat, a fish, even a dinosaur is easy. But what if somebody's taste in pets runs to the more mechanical kind? What about those who like cogs and gears more than feathers and fur? People who prefer the call of a train whistle to the squeal of a guinea pig? Or maybe dream of a smudge of soot on their cheek, not slobber? In this spectacularly illustrated picture book, kids who love locomotives (and what kid doesn't?) will discover where trains live, what they like to eat, and the best train tricks around-everything it takes to lay the tracks for a long and happy friendship. All aboard!

About the Author

Jason Carter Eaton is the author of How to Train a Train, illustrated by John Rocco, and Great, Now We've Got Barbarians!, illustrated by Mark Fearing, among other books for children. Jason Carter Eaton has written for such diverse venues as McSweeney's, Cartoon Network, MGM, and BBC Radio and has done extensive work with 20th Century Fox animation/Blue Sky Studios. He lives in Westchester, New York.

About the Illustrator

John Rocco is the illustrator of How to Train a Train by Jason Carter Eaton and The Flint Heart by Katherine and John Paterson. John Rocco's picture book Blackout received a Caldecott Honor. He is also the jacket artist for Rick Riordan's best-selling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and has collaborated with Whoopi Goldberg on the picture book Alice. Previously a creative director at Walt Disney Imagineering and pre production director for the film Shrek at DreamWorks, John Rocco lives in Los Angeles.
Industry Reviews
I saved my favorite for last. 'How to Train a Train' is exactly that: a guidebook that teaches children how to capture and tame wild trains. ... Jason Carter Eaton's deadpan prose is calibrated just-so. He wisely leaves the abundant belly laughs to John Rocco's paintings, which have their own zany style...
--The New York Times Book Review

Juxtaposing sensible tips with the absurdity of a huge pet locomotive creates a text that is at once believable and preposterous. ... But what really makes this concept roar down the track are the entrancing digitally colored illustrations that perfectly capture the expressiveness and playfulness of the pet trains. ... [T]his book is sure to be popular with train and pet lovers alike.
--School Library Journal (starred review)

Train and pet enthusiasts alike will delight in this rollicking story about selecting, naming, soothing and caring for a full-sized locomotive. ... With believable expressiveness in the characterizations of the trains and a scale perfect for groups, this affectionate sendup communicates all the exasperation, responsibility and rewards of having a pet.
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Eaton's tongue-in-cheek--and eminently enjoyable text--is matched by Rocco's smooth and sleek artwork laced with whimsy.
--Booklist (starred review)

An immersive experience for junior rail fans.
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The premise is delightful... Rocco's characteristic art is digitally colored, imbuing it with a slick, almost metallic smoothness while graphite outlines provide solidness and occasional texture; compositions are nicely balanced throughout, with full spreads of Fido, Sparkles, and Smokey allowing viewers to fully appreciate the enormity of by this particular type of pet.
--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

The conversational text is exploded by John Rocco's zany, digitally colored illustrations. Learn about how these mysterious beasts travel (freights move in herds, monorails alone) and what you need to trap them (big nets are good, quicksand works, but smoke signals are best). Eaton even explains how to soothe a jumpy engine: "Few trains can resist a read-aloud." Few kids, either -- especially when the subject is trains and the words go "Rocka-rocka, clickety-clack" down the track.
--The Washington Post

Eaton's fanciful, funny text is perfectly accompanied by John Rocco's energetic illustrations. ... This book is sure to be a huge hit with young railroad enthusiasts everywhere.
--BookPage

More in Picture Books in General

Tricky's Bad Day - Alison Lester

$14.99

Ask Aunty : Bush Survival Skills - Aunty Munya Andrews

RRP $24.99

$21.25

15%
OFF
Meerkat Mayhem - Mem Fox

$19.99

Grug Goes to School : Grug - Ted Prior
Bluey : Granny Mobile - Bluey

$14.99

The Truck Cat : National Simultaneous Storytime 2025 - Deborah Frenkel
Costa's Garden : Flowers - Costa Georgiadis

RRP $24.99

$23.75

Where to Hide a Star : The Boy series - Oliver Jeffers

RRP $27.99

$26.50

Over or Under? - Pip Harry

RRP $24.99

$23.75

Extreme Animal Facts - Jennifer Cossins

RRP $26.99

$25.75

The Deep - Tim Winton

Paperback

$16.99

Magic Beach - Alison Lester

Paperback

RRP $19.99

$16.99

15%
OFF
Poo Bum : Simon Books - Stephanie Blake

$16.99

I Want My Hat Back : The Hat Trilogy - Jon Klassen
Mr. Huff : Winner of the 2016 Early Childhood CBCA - Anna Walker
Tiny Tradies - Tami Sussman

Hardcover

$19.99

Zog and the Flying Doctors : Zog - Julia Donaldson