Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection (Railway Series) [Hardcover]

Wilbert Awdry (Author), C. Reginald Dalby (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Series: Railway Series

Since the publication of the original Thomas the Tank Engine in 1946, millions of children and their parents all over the world have loved this series of bedtime stories about Thomas and his friends. All 26 of the Reverend W. Awdry's classic stories are here in one beautiful gift volume, with an introduction by the author himself. Illustrated in full color.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Since the publication of the original Thomas the Tank Engine in 1946, millions of children and their parents all over the world have loved this series of bedtime stories about Thomas and his friends. All 26 of the Reverend W. Awdry's classic stories are here in one beautiful gift volume, with an introduction by the author himself. Illustrated in full color.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing, Inc. (September 2, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517187868
• ISBN-13: 978-0517187869
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #246,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #35 in Books > Children's Books > Transportation > Trains

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

135 of 139 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for any child who loves Thomas the Tank Engine., January 12, 2000

By 

Steven M. Stedman (Ferndale WA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection (Railway Series) (Hardcover)

This book contains some great stories about Thomas the Tank Engine, and all of his friends including Percy, Henry, Gordon, Anabel, Clara, James, Bertie, and many more.

Prior to buying this, we have purchased many Thomas books for our son, most of which wear out or get destroyed very quickly as small paperback books do. This book is the perfect solution, it has ALL of the Thomas stories in it, it has a good strong cover, and it will last for a while.

My 3 year old son loves this book, it is one of his favorite bedtime books. The stories are a good length to read 1 or 2 of them at bedtime.

177 of 187 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the best Thomas book, but lots of stories, August 13, 2001

By 

B. Rutledge "sjsdad" (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection (Railway Series) (Hardcover)

My son is a huge Thomas fan, and had be read him "Thomas the Tank Engine's Big Blue Treasury" every night for weeks. Hoping to get some variety, I got this giant book of all the Thomas stories written by W. Awdry (the Big Blue Treasury has 3 stories written by his son, Christopher Awdry). Compared to the son's stories, these are often violent and not really appropriate for some small children. The theme of at least half the stories is that a train is either rude or vain and then gets his punishment (either from an event, or from the teasing or revenge of the other characters). My wife won't read the stories, and I find myself doing some verbal editing of the stories whenever I see the very common story element of the other trains/trucks/coaches deciding to "pay him out" (i.e. paybacks, revenge - a phrase which seems to pop up in about a third of the stories). A couple of stories have rude trucks, which are then destroyed. If your kids watch a lot of the videos, however, you should be familar with many of the stories, as they are the basis for a lot of the videos. The book has good value in that there is a LOT of stories (I got that variety I was looking for), however to make them fit they have reduced the illustrations to a VERY small size that I find too small to do the stories justice. Also, the stories cover several decades, and I felt there was a decline in the quality of the stories as the book comes to an end. I would rather have this one than trying to collect all the individual books, however. In short, I don't think this is as good as either the Big Blue Treasury or the Big Yellow Treasury, both of which have stories better suited to small children and much bigger and brighter illustrations, and my son likes both of those books better also. This is still a good book for a Thomas fan, however, and a nice change after you have read those books a hundred times (and even if you decide to skip a few of the darker stories, it is still a good value) and it tracks many of the stories in the videos.

55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great investment!, March 31, 2001

By 

K. Olgren (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection (Railway Series) (Hardcover)

We bought this book a year ago, and my son still enjoys listening to the stories. He has heard each at least three times, some of them many more times besides. As his mother, who has read through the book with him twice myself, *I* love the stories, too! They teach good lessons and are very entertaining at the same time.

It actually is not true that all Thomas stories are in this book. All the original stories by the original author are, but more stories have been made up by less skilled story writers, in my opinion. The BEST Thomas stories are the ones in this book.

The shorter story books have been Americanized, and I think that makes them lose some of their appeal. For instance, the Fat Controller in this book has been renamed in the shorter books and videos to his proper name, "Sir Topham Hatt." Political correctness meets Thomas the Tank Engine. In my opinion, they were better unchanged, and that is what you have in this book.

If you have a toddler, I highly recommend this book. One word of warning, though. Then come the Thomas train sets, and the videos . . . you will never be through with Thomas once you start!