My 3 year old son loves Thomas right now. In this book, Thomas is sad because he must work on his birthday. But, while he works, his friends plan a surprise party for him. The language is very simple, and the simple vocabulary repeats often. So it is very easy for young children to understand and enjoy. My 3 year old can tell the story page by page. My 22 month old son can tell parts of the story. They fight over the book. I rated the book 4 stars instead of 5 because children who don't know Thomas might not look at it right away. But it is a lovely story, with very nice illustrations. The book is short, so it keeps their attention until the end.

'Henry and the Elephant' is one of the Junior JellyBean books recently released for preschool readers. While the story itself is charming in the Thomas the Tank Engine tradition, this book's most appealing features are the bright and expressive illustrations that accompany the pages of the story. The always-confident Henry has an unusual task to accomplish...transporting a circus elephant by train! Surprises and obstacles present themselves along the way, but as all Thomas and Friends fans have come to trust, all ends well and a valuable lesson is learned in believing in yourself and working cheerfully with others. The book is quite small, but is very appealing to little readers with little hands. Makes a wonderful gift, and the price reflects the smaller size.

Henry, the green tender engine in the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends series, tends to be a bit boastful about his abilities to the smaller engines. When it begins to rain, Henry lets his vanity go to his head and refuses to come out of a tunnel and risk getting rain on his lovely green paint. To teach him a lesson, Sir Topham Hatt has a wall built at the tunnel exit, forcing Henry to remain there until he changes his attitude! As days pass, Henry's green paint gets sooty and cold, and the other engines go about their business around him. Henry must then reconsider his stance, and just in time to help Gordon the Great Engine out of a real fix. This story is a wonderful one for illustrating what one misses out on by being haughty and not cooperating with others.

During the holiday season, my 2-year-old, my 5-year-old, my wife and I spend many evenings coloring Christmas coloring books. This book was perfect for my 2-year-old. It has 96 pages, so it kept her occupied for some time. The pictures are large, clear and easy to color. I found the title and cover a little misleading, because only about one-third of the pages containing Christmas-related pictures. But this mattered not to my 2-year-old, who thoroughly enjoyed coloring each and every page.

Almost any Thomas book will be a hit with Thomas fans, but my boys do seem to enjoy this one a great deal. They find the mild humor (monkeys wearing clothes, seals throwing objects, a bear eating lots of tuna) beyond hilarious. They like (and I like) the way the lift-a-flaps are set up, so they really change the picture around when opened. If you have a Thomas fan 5 or under, I would consider this book.

This is a great little book. My one year old daughter was mesmerized by the pictures and true to life colors. We have other books in this collection but none of them have caught her eye quite like this one! I think I might order a few more as I can already tell that this book will get much wear!

My son makes me read this book every night before and it is TORTURE! Every character is mean and nasty, the language is very British and obtuse, and frequently the stories just don't make sense. I moan every time Jackson asks for this book, and I call it 'the PEW book of all time.'

This is one of Ringo's finest recordings yet. Without his soothing voice, I would have went crazy and killed people years ago. But now I listen to this tape every night and I think to myself: Aren't I just like Diesel, the arrogent mean tank engine. So now I strive myself on being just like Thomas. YOU SHOULD TOO.

My son loves this story. We have the story itself recorded on tape so that he can just play it... otherwise we'd lose our voices reading it over and over. With bright pictures and an articulate story (with a moral: the honest hard working engine wins out in the end over the wicked arrogant one), this book others in the series have our son completely charmed. It keeps him busy for hours!

While a cute little board book, this is one of the rare Thomas books that parents may want to approach with caution. It is a fun book for illustrating the comparative shapes and sizes of objects like tank engines and suitcases, but a reference to Sir Topham Hatt as 'fat' might put some adults and children off.

This is an excellent board book to read with your toddlers, and explain the differences in shapes and sizes. Our family enjoyed looking for other items of similar shapes in our own home, while we sat and read this book together. That became a very enjoyable game for even my older toddler, who was no longer interested in board books. The one reference to "fat" and "thin" will actually make a good time to discuss how some words can be hurtful to others, and how to avoid them. My toddler surprised me with her sensitivity and ability to understand this complex matter.

Is it OK to say that you don't like TTTE? There is no denying that kids have been captivated by the Thomas phenomenon, including the mass merchandising of toys and every conceivable household accroutrement - from lampshades to bedspreads, toothbrushes to curtains...overpriced clothing ranges...mainly on the strength of the TV series and the BBC/ABC marketing arms.

But, but, but, but....I find the stories twee, dated and humourless. So dour...so class-ridden... I know millions will disagree, and there are millions of happy kids and parents out there.

Thomas was a passing phenomenon in our household, and there's nothing wrong with a bit of stodge mixed in with more nutritious fare. I wouldn's say "don't go there", but try to retain some perspective and balance in children's lives!

I purchased this particular Thomas the Tank Engine book for my grandchildren, as they have enjoyed the stories about Thomas in the past. However, if I could have seen and read this book in a book store, I probably would not have purchased it. While the graphics are extremely good (as usual), and the music is quite cute (and appropriately quiet), the story is just too short at 10 pages. In addition, I am always looking for books that are interesting for my grandchildren, but yet teach them new words. Unfortunately, this book just is too short to meet that criteria for me to rate it any higher than 3 stars.

This book is a classic. It contains the exceptional stories Thomas and Gordon, Thomas' Train, Thomas and the trucks and Thomas and the breakdown train. In the first story, the little blue engine gets carried away with himself and gets a run for his money from Gordon. In the next, Henry is ill so Thomas takes his passenger train with embarrasing results. In the one after, Thomas has a go with some troublesome trucks. Finally, while he is shunting, Thomas notices James having some trouble with some trucks, he gets a hold of the breakdown train and saves James and gets a Branch line of his very own with two coaches.

This book is a step up from the simplest Thomas stories for infants. Its colorful pictures and simple text make it perfect for beginning readers. The entire series of Thomas' books builds a little one's interest in preparation for the more mature Thomas stories as written by Rev. Awdry.

This book uses simple language and a simple plot that is just right for very young children. I bought this book for my son when he was about six monthes old and he loved it even then. Now he is two and it is still his favorite. It has also proved to be fairly durable. I do agree with another reviewer that it is not the most facinating book for adults to read, but...This is a great "starter" book to help your young child learn to love to read.

This book would be an excellent first reader for a Thomas fan. It's very simply written, but would really hold a beginning reader's interest. My sons don't read yet, but they love to have it read to them, although I must admit it's not the most fascinating book for the adult reader! They love the scenes where the train is going too fast and all sorts of things are splashing and crashing around because the train is going too fast.