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October 2008

Theme: “Nurturing Imagination”

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SavvyPicks for Your Favorite Train Conductor

Wed

2008

Your preschooler may never have travelled by train, but he's likely downright late 19th century in his obsession with the rails. Boys and girls alike are drawn to a train table like flies to honey, and we know many a preschooler who can identify each of the many Thomas engines by sight long before they are ready for the old-fashioned technique of reading the names on the underside.

Trains, trains, trains. That's what these kids want.

And that's what you'll find on the trains page in our Savvy books, toys and more section. For some of the highlights, consider these favorites:

The Little Engine that Could -- "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can." Who among us hasn't conjured up that refrain when faced with a seemingly impossible task? Like running the last leg of a marathon. Or getting an uncooperative child dressed in the morning. "I think I can." This beloved story of a small engine pulling a train laden with toys over a mountain was published in the midst of the Great Depression (1930), and has ever since been taken to symbolize the American can-do spirit in the face of hardship. But for children of any era, it offers a reassuring mantra for climbing all the mountains on the path to growing up and beyond.

Trains: A Pop-Up Railroad Book -- Truly, our all-time favorite train book would have to be The Little Engine That Could, but if your little engineer is craving more detail on engines and roundhouses and all the rest than the classic provides, this pop-up book is the motherlode. If you can keep the pop-ups intact (and yes, that's a big if for the preschool set), your little one will easily still be mining facts out of this book when he is reading it to his own kids! This is a book for aficionados of all ages. It has everything you could ever want to know about trains - and more - and the cleverly engineered pop-ups are especially sleek and ooh-worthy.

Geotrax All About Trains Starter Set -- Start here for your first train set, and then work up to the wonders of the Grand Central Station edition.

Catch That Train -- Just wait until your little one's voice joins in on the sweet chorus of little voices in "I Don't Want Your Millions Mister" - you'll know why this latest album from the icon Dan Zanes is such a keeper. Great message, great folk/bluegrass beat, incomparable style. And authentic to the great train days of centuries gone by. This album is just the thing for your little engineer.

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Yearning to hit the rails near you? Our Savvy City Editors are chiming in on where you can hear a whistle and a chugga-chugga where you live: