Slow Train to Oxmox [Hardcover]

Kurt Cyrus (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 1998

"When Edwin Blink misses the fast train to Oxmox he's forced to take the slow train instead. Never has Edwin experienced a ride as pokey as this one...Cyrus wonderfully conveys the difficulties the train encounters."-Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With this story of a hurried man who boards a sluggish train, Cyrus (Tangle Town) conjures the feeling of being unable to escape a bad dream. Corporate drone Edwin Blink is late for work; drizzle blurs his owlish glasses. Rather than board the sleek purple express train, he inadvertently boards a coach towed by an algae-green steam engine: "The wrong platform. The wrong train." Pinch-faced passengers fill the seats, and a few farm animals stand in the aisles, but Edwin is oblivious until the conductor announces, "Slow train to Oxmox.... With stops at Loblolly and Twigtwist. And who knows, maybe a few other places." Edwin's anxiety builds as the anachronistic train stops for a flock of geese, gets stuck in the mud and wrestles through a thicket of branches and roots. ("No one comes this way anymore but us. I guess we've been forgotten," the conductor explains.) Cyrus's images, tinged with gray and yellow, heighten the time-warp sensation. The sky changes color, the ground is insubstantial as quicksand, and no houses or trees can be seen to either side of the tracks. This doesn't scare the passengers, who hop out to push the train and cheerfully pronounce, "This little train always gets us there, even if we have to drag it. We'll all pull together!" Yet the claustrophobic, Sartre-like No Exit ambience clashes with the optimistic tone. Edwin learns about cooperation and helps keep the train moving, but the travelers never arrive at a destination. This volume is an atmospheric tour de force, even though its attempts at lightness get clouded by a surreal haze. Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 4^-6. Edwin Blink is a busy guy in a suit with a first-class ticket for the Oxmox Express. But when his owlish glasses get rain splattered, he gets in the wrong line and finds himself on the slow train to Oxmox. The audience will start to snicker here, because the slow train includes horses, goats, and a rooster among its passengers and stops at places like Loblolly and Twigtwist and, to Edwin's horror, for geese on the tracks. Passengers are invited to help push through some very chocolaty-looking mud and pull through some very tangled, vanilla-taffy-looking trees. Poor Edwin gets more and more impatient, but when the slow train tries to cross a broken bridge, he opens his briefcase, takes out a notebook, and knows what to do. "You're a genius!" says the conductor. "Actually, I'm a mechanical engineer," says Edwin. The illustrations have a bit of William Joyce in them, with their hyperrealistic colors and whipped cream clouds. The text flops over into surrealism, too, as Edwin decides that the train engine's rattle and sneeze are like a big wet kiss--" I think this train likes me." One couldn't say there is a point here exactly, but it is odd, whimsical fun. GraceAnne A. DeCandido

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (August 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374370478
• ISBN-13: 978-0374370473
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,364,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect read-aloud book., February 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Slow Train to Oxmox (Hardcover)

Oxmox,Loblolly and Twigtwist: all stops on a train ride full of sweetness and humor. This book is truly a delight to read aloud to your child. It is a favorite with our two year old son: we have read it with him many, many times in the last few months, but we haven't tired of it yet. The language is fun, the illustrations imaginative, and Mr. Edwin Blink learns to loosen up, help out, and enjoy big wet sloppy kisses from a train. Of all the recently published books I have seen in the past year, this one stands out as having the feeling of a "classic" in the little bedtime story genre. I wish the author much success.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book for preschoolers!, April 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Slow Train to Oxmox (Hardcover)

Slow Train to Oxmox is a fantastic book for preschool-age children. The language and story are engaging, and the illustrations are beautiful and interesting. I enjoy looking at them as much as my 3-year-old! He never tires of the story. I can't recommend this book enough!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful story and art, March 22, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Slow Train to Oxmox (Hardcover)

This book is a must read for my train loving 4 year old son, actually we were reading it to him when he was two. The story is just the right length and the pace moves along just like the train in question. It is a good story about learning to slow down and observe life. My wife and I have always admired Mr. Cyrus' watercolor art and look forward to his next releases. I especially recommend Odhopper Opera.