Farmyard Tales Wind-up Train Book - Stephen Cartwright

What can I say about this absolutley fascinating book? Well I guess to start off with I should say that this isn't just a book, it is a train track as well!

Wow - my son loves this book! Lets start from the outside and work our way inside, saving the best till last! This book is quite large, it is at least 35cm tall and 25 cm long and then about 10cm wide, so you are getting a lot of book for your money! The picture on the front is of a steam train that is found in the Usborne Farmyard Tales series of books. The picture is colourful and represents the book and the three stories inside well. In a little boxed area accessed from the front of the book is a wind up train that is approximately4cm long. It is covered over by a plastic casing to keep the train in place. With the casing in place the book has to be opened to the last page to enaable you to access the train.

Inside are three stories about from the Usborne Farmyard Tales range. Each of the stories contains the train in some way, therefore making the train more appropriate to the book and to help bring the stories to life. The stories are Dolly and the Train, At the Seaside and . The train track created for each story makes the story very interactve and allows for hours of fun (well as long as you can remain sane enough to continue winding the train up that is)! Each story has lovely and clear illustrations that depict the story well, and also there are illustrations alongside the track and so you are able to point out things along the way. On one of the tracks there is a moveable track for you to change the direction of the train. Something I did find very useful with regards this book was that my son wanted to place the train on the track himself and at only 21 months his aim was not accurate. This I though was going to be a problem and he was going to get frustrated with trying to put the train on the track - but no! Wherever you place the train on the page (as long as it isn't on the edge and facing the edge of the page) the train will slip back into the grooved track and continue on its way - super stuff!

This book is a hardback book and is of a very good quality. Its RRP is £14.99 and I think this book is certainly worth this price. I am sure that this book would be available for less if you look aariund. The trains can be replaced by contacting Usborneif it is mislaid or broken aand costs around £3 I think,

This book would make a great Christmas gift or birthday gift for anyone who likes trains (even the adults will like it)! There are other books similar to this that are published by Usborne, including The Wind Up Tractor, The Noisy Fire Engine and Racing cars. They all retail for about 15-17 poundds and run along the same lines as the train book, with stories and tracks and appropriate vehicles. There are as yet not girly wind up books but surely these must be in the pipeline?