The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Johnson, Angela , Johnson, Angela

I Dream of Trains

32 pp. | Simon | September, 2003 | Trade ISBN 0-689-82609-5 $$16.95

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Loren Long & Loren Long. In Johnson's poetic tribute to the power of hope, a young African-American boy, son of a sharecropper, dreams of following Casey Jones and his famous train out into the world, away from a life of picking cotton. Long's paintings, with their horizontal lines and strong shapes, work with the free verse to create a sense of place and a desire for change. The story is strengthened by Johnson's notes about Casey Jones.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth