My son loves trains. His worship of Thomas the Tank Engine was fleeting and barely lasted beyond his third birthday, but his interest in locomotives hasn't wavered one bit. So when my husband stumbled upon this beautiful book, he knew our little man would be drawn to it at first sight. And when I opened it up and saw that some of the pages contain actual paragraphs, I thought: "Yah! Big boy book!

Now that his attention span is pretty dependable (he is in PreK), he is hungry for longer, more interesting books, and Niccolini's Song by Chuck Wilcoxen fits the bill perfectly. Niccolini is a quiet, calm man who spends his nights watching over engines in the train yard. One night, after being startled by a group of raccoons, Niccolini discovers that the engines were startled, too. Having a long run to do in the morning, one tired engine asks Niccolini to sing to him. Surprised that this engine can talk, Niccolini begins to sing and the engine lulls off to sleep.

Soon, he is singing to the engines every night. One night a mother hears Niccolini's song as she is walking by the train yard with a crying baby. The baby drifts off to sleep thanks to the watchman's lullaby. Soon, more and more mothers bring their babies to hear Niccolini's song before they go to sleep. Finally, one night, when a terrible wind storm leaves all the babies in the village awake and cranky, Niccolini and the engines team up to create a lullaby that's loud but sweet enough to bring sleep back to the village.

In addition to a great story line, the illustrations in Niccolin's Song are superb. Very rarely have I seen such detail in a children's book. Mark Buehner creates an inviting nightscape of dims lights, bright stars, and my favorite feature, clouds of elephants, dinosaurs, and other child-friendly inventions, adding a touch of whimsical to this sleepy tale. Song would fit perfectly in any child's bed-time book library, but is best suited for three and up. The narrative is more developed than in toddler books, and the two and under crowd might get a bit restless.

*Books for all of my reviews are checked out at the library or purchased by me. I receive no compensation for reviews.