-Lev Grossman
Dear Uncle Herbert,
You've never met me, but I'm your niece Kate, and since it is my birthday tomorrow and you are super-rich could you please send me a present?
Kate and her younger brother Tom lead dull, uninteresting lives. And if their dull, uninteresting parents are anything to go by, they don't have much to look forward to. Why can't Kate have thrilling adventures and save the world the way people do in books? Even her 11th birthday is shaping up to be mundane -- that is, until her mysterious and highly irresponsible Uncle Herbert, whom she's never even met before, surprises her with the most unexpected, exhilarating, inappropriate birthday present of all time: a colossal steam locomotive called the Silver Arrow.
Kate and Tom's parents want to send it right back where it came from. But Kate and Tom have other ideas -- and so does the Silver Arrow -- and soon they're off to distant lands along magical rail lines in the company of an assortment of exotic animals who, it turns out, can talk. With only curiosity, excitement, their own resourcefulness and the thrill of the unknown to guide them, Kate and Tom are on the adventure of a lifetime...and who knows? They just might end up saving the world after all.
This thrilling fantasy adventure will not only entertain young readers but inspire them to see the beautiful, exciting, and precious world around them with new eyes.
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I thoroughly loved the premise of this book - two young children are gifted with a magical train that takes them on adventures. Reminiscent of the Narnia series, Polar Express and magic of Roald Dahl stories. This story begins wildly fun and slowly turns more serious as we learn why the animals are boarding the train. The children also progress through maturity levels during the story. Overall, I felt this was a good introduction to caring for our environment and would
make a fabulous family read-aloud.
Favorite quote from the book:
"Don't feel too bad about what humans have done - feeling guilty doesn't help anything anyway. Humans are animals doing what all animals do: surviving. It's just that you've done it too well, so well that now you have to become a new kind of animal, one who makes sure that all the others survive, too."
Favorite quote about the book: “There is just so much here I can't think of a single person who wouldn't totally love reading this. There are daring chases and escapes, fantastical feats of magic, heart breaking realizations, witty repartee and of course, hard lessons learned.
Couldn't recommend this one harder if I tried.” - S.
Heidi Y.