The Little Engine That Could

Continuing down the list of classic children's books that topped our list of favorites at age 2 is The Little Engine That Could.  This is a true classic.

That said, I personally found that it was NOT what I remembered from my own childhood.  As an impressionable kid, I must have seen a cartoon version or two (or five) of the classic Engine that Could story. Those emphasized the final big climb up the mountain.

The original Watty Piper text, however, is different.  It is almost like reading a historical text, which I personally found to be a lot of fun.

1 - There is a HEAVY emphasis on all the dolls and toys (led by the somewhat creepy-looking clown) pleading with the passenger engine, the freight engine, and the beaten-up rusty engine for help.

2 - The description of the stuff that the broken-down engine was carrying is straight from the Great Depression, as one would expect from a book written during the Great Depression.

3 - The illustrations are all in a style that you could readily

At any rate, I think this is all great stuff and so does our 2-year-old (though it is more about the trains and less about the history for him).

Here's a link to the 1930's style version.
















And here's a link to an updated 50's-ish version.














Wikipedia has an entry on Watty Piper, which includes his real name (Monk).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watty_Piper.  It also includes an interesting history of the evolution of the story over time.  The Wikipedia entry links to an article written by a historian at the University of Illinois called the "Search for Watty Piper," which is really interesting  http://tigger.uic.edu/~plotnick/littleng.htm.

--TC Daddy