Sliding Into Reading

Easy Literacy Interaction for Little Hands

• What: Inside Freight Train book
• When: Ages 1 year and up
• Why: Super cool sliding pages feature
• Where: Amazon

You might be familiar with the popular Freight Train board book by Donald Crews, but have you met the book’s new, cooler cousin? If your child loves lifting the flaps and touching textures in board books, give this new feature a try. Inside Freight Train boasts the familiar bright colors on white for strong contrast that appeals to younger audiences, much like the original Freight Train hit. But Inside Freight Train goes one step further, looking “inside” the pages. Little hands slide the edge of the page out to reveal a hidden extra page inside, which showcases the freight on each type of car. It includes food, animals, and even the crew, so it offers something for everyone.

Our copy has been around for at least three years, maybe more, (My memory isn’t what it used to be.), and is still going strong. I’ve made one repair, using my top secret scotch tape method, to the special pull out pages because a visiting child didn’t understand the mechanism, and pulled the pages apart to get a peek.

Even if your little train aficionado already owns Freight Train, Inside Freight Train makes a great companion book, and an excellent gift as well. Its unique design fascinates people of all ages. We stumbled across it in a bookstore while waiting, and couldn’t resist taking it home despite our overflowing bookshelves.