Customer Reviews

Hey! Get Off Our Train (Dragonfly Books)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This book features two seminal kid pleasers--animals and trains. I am a teacher who has read the book to dozens of children who have really enjoyed it. I would like to defend it agains the "dark" criticism. In my experience, children haven't been scared, upset or bothered by the story or the illustrations. They have been empathetic however, and perhaps that bothers some adults. The illustrations are lovely, misty, giving a feeling of riding the train out at sunset around the world. The little boy hero of the story has fun, whimsical adventures with all of the animals. My experience with kids is that they like the illustrations and smile when when they discover an interesting detail hidden in the mist. The story has a positive message--the little boy finds room on his train for all the animals, and they end up at his house. Perhaps the ending is simplistic and overly optomistic for some, but it's a little kids fantasy story! I believe the underlying message is positive and possible, that we can make room in our lives to exist in peace with all G-d's creatures. I have had kids act out this story as a skit and make animal cosutmes, and they had a ball doing that. Also, kids could make up other adventures for the little boy and his train, involving other endangered animals. One of the best books I have found for young kids that tells about endangered species in a poetic way, which helps them understand the basic concepts involved. Again, it is simplistic, but this book is for pre-schoolers and early elementary kids who are just being introduced to the topic. Although the third and fourth graders who did the skit liked it as well! It could spark discussions with kids about what's really going on in the world with endagered species, and what people can or should do about it, but that's our job as parents and teachers, to help kids cope with and understand life with all it's highs and low and contradictions.

Our son knew by heart when to holler out, "Hey! Get off our train." I doubt that the message of extinction was even subliminally taken in. It was the joy of yelling its title over and over that made our son so happy.

HEY! GET OFF OUR TRAIN is a fun book for children. The book may appear somewhat dark to adults; but that is possibly because we're torn over how to treat endangered species. From the child's point of view, this is a book about a boy who takes a magical train ride with rare and unusual animals. It's fun; it's exciting! It shows a boy who makes room on his train for all of the animals who ask for his help. Because the train looks like his toy train, there is a hint that the train ride may exist only in his imagination. But, in the end, it seems that his nighttime train ride was real. This is great fun for children!

To use this in a classroom setting I found the book far too negative with no ideas brought to light in the story on how we might change these problem situations for the animals. Why does the boy not want these animals on his train either? Sort of "Hey, get off my Planet" type of mentality. If he was looking to help the animals he wouldn't keep yelling that phrase. Rather lousy book in every aspect.

Several endangered animals want to board a little boy's train. The elephant says someone is coming to cut off his tusks; the seal says he doesn't have enough to eat in his dirty sea; the bird says they are draining water out of his marshes; the tiger says they are cutting down his forests; and the polar bear says they want to make a coat out of his fur. The boy takes each animal on board the train. It's a bleak story. I think there are much better books than this that address animal endangerment and extinction.

This was my son's favorite book from the time he was 2 years old through 8 years old. (He is 14 now, and he still won't let me donate it to charity... he keeps it in his room.) The art work is amazing... so amazing that we bought a second book to take apart, so we could frame the pictures for his room. We both LOVED the story too. When I read the negative reviews, I laughed. Those people are little too Politically Correct for me, and they obviously don't "get it". The book is written as a child would act and speak. "Hey get off our train", the boy says, but when he hears each animal's plight, he readily accepts each and every one of them, and TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEM. That is the lesson of the book, and my son understood it right away. I highly recommend this book, especially if your child is crazy for trains.

My son loved this book, we read it over and over again. He liked it almost as much as the Magic Bed (also by this author and definitely worth checking out).

I loved the blurry drawings and my son was so engaged by the story that he pretended our laundry basket was a train and his toys (spider-man, teddy bear, his rainbow dolphin and Big Bird) were asking for shelter on his tiny train. I hurt my back tugging him and his 'trainload' of animals around the room.

Anyways, I love this book and didn't feel there was an overwhelming message (I don't like message books for kids, they are always condescending and boring). The reviewers who dissed this book probably would hate any book that implies any animal is on the verge of extinction (or is already extinct, reality has a liberal bias and dodos don't exist, ya know!).

Read this book to your kids, not because it teaches a lesson about conservation, but because it's a whole lotta fun.

This book is one of my two year old son's favorites. He often requests it and I often hear him reciting bits of it as he plays before bed. I don't focus on the environmental message at this point, we just enjoy the rhythm of the language and the delightful illustrations. Some of the illustrations are a bit dark, but so beautiful, and searching for the train and the faint outlines of some of the animals on the train is challenging and fun. We also have a great time making train chugging noises as we turn the pages. When my son is older, I'm sure we'll still find this book challenging as we're able to talk about the reasons each animal fears "soon there will be none of us left."

My kindergartener brought this book home from the library - his very first book to bring home. He was so excited! The illustrations are fantastic - I know that is why he chose it.
The story is about a little boy who goes to sleep, and dreams about endangered species wanting to come and ride his train with him, to escape dying (basically!). The elephant talks about having his tusks cut off, the polar bear about having his fur used for fur, the tiger about the forest being chopped down, and so on...it is a very depressing book. I believe there are other ways to teach children about how to be good to the environment, and nature, rather than laying all this on them - they can not do anything about it at this young age!

I do not recommend this book. It was a waste of time.

Mom of three under the age of 5!!

I checked this book out of the library for my 2 1/2-year old son for 2 weeks. He brought this book to me and asked me to read it to him ALL THE TIME. At the end of the 2 weeks, I renewed it for another 2 before returning it. While it may not be MY favorite children's book, it certainly is his, and shouldn't that be what matters to us moms? I am planning to give him this book for Christmas since he still asks for the "train book" everyday. If he hears me say "hey" he instantly squeals "Get off our train!" Obviously this book left a lasting impression on him and that's more important to me than whether the illustrations should or should have not won the Parents' Choice Award.