Mr. Complain Takes the Train written by Wade Bradford and illustrated by Stephan Britt, reviewed by Terry Wahrman

Summary:  Mr. Complain takes a vacation and on the train he notices things are not quite as he wants them to be.  He is a grumpy man and lots of things are wrong on the train.  His seat is too lumpy.  The passenger next to him is too prickly, although a porcupine can’t help it.  The train is moving too fast or too uphill.  He can never seem to find the train comfortable.  After the train and tracks do a loop de loop and a ride through a river, cleaning out the inside of the train, he finally makes it to his destination of Dullsville, but is that what he wants in a vacation?

Straight Talk for Librarians:  Mr. Complain makes a lot of work for the conductor and says mean things to those around him.  All the passengers and conductor remain in good spirits while trying to satisfy his complaints.  Vacations don’t always go as planned.  Students need to learn how to handle their emotions without hurting the others around them.  They can either learn to make a bad situation into a good situation or sulk.  This would make a great classroom discussion on how they would handle himself.  The interactive book is a lot of fun.  This large picture book is fun to read as the train moves up, down, and upside down as do the words on the page and most scenes take up both pages. Highly recommended.