Catch Me, Catch Me! (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (Random House Pictureback Reader) [School & Library Binding]

Owain Bell (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Random House Pictureback Reader

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Thomas the tank engine has a race with another train, one pulled by an engine larger than he is.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• School & Library Binding: 24 pages
• Publisher: Turtleback (March 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613000870
• ISBN-13: 978-0613000871
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,573,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Go Thomas Go!, June 6, 2005

By 

Pam Tee "Busy Mom" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Catch Me, Catch Me! (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (Random House Pictureback Reader) (School & Library Binding)

This is a train book. Most importantly it is a Thomas the Tank Engine book and to a 3 year old's eyes, nothing is as exciting as a race between two of his steamy friends: little Thomas and mighty Gordon.

While others have noted that the race ends with Thomas winning through trickery, I like to think of it as Thomas winning by *thinking* rather than shear brawn. (What kind of a `real' race is it anyway between a huge steamy and little ole Thomas? Gordon might as well have been racing Toby the steam tram.)

As far as the text is concerned, the rhyme is, as noted elsewhere, awkward. I believe the author would have been better off using 54+ words to get better verse, but I guess that did not fit into the magic scheme of 50.

What does work is the `catch me, catch me, go, go, go" action-rhythm and the nicely drawn pictures. Very addicting to Thomas aficionados.

"Look, a tunnel!
A tunnel for me!
A tunnel Gordon did not see!"

"I may be slow,
You may be fast.
But I am first,
And you are last!"


As we have not begun reading, I can not speak to the effectiveness of the games at the end. Certainly, I agree with the reviewer who stated that the `rectangles' are small and would take awhile to cut out. I would probably just copy those same words on 3x5 cards.

An excellent price for this little book.