Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Peppa Pig and the Little Train

Peppa Pig and the Little Train. 2016. Candlewick. 32 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Peppa and George are visiting Granny and Grandpa Pig. Bang! Crash! Bang! Bang! "What's that noise?" asks Peppa. "Grandpa Pig is building a surprise for you," says Granny Pig.

Premise/plot: The book is an adaptation of a television episode of Peppa Pig. In this book, Peppa and George are surprised with Gertrude, a miniature locomotive made by their Grandpa. Soon, all their friends are riding Gertrude as well. One of the refrains of the book is that Gertrude is NOT a toy.

My thoughts: I LOVE this episode very much. But the book adaptation leaves a little to be desired. Not only has it been Americanized, but the lyrics to GRANDPA'S LITTTLE TRAIN SONG has been changed for no reason whatsoever. In the TV episode, Grandpa's little train goes CHOO, CHOO, CHOO. In the book, it goes CHUG, CHUG, CHUG. I don't expect the book to include the full song--it has multiple verses after all. But to not get the chorus right is just annoying. Any parent and child who KNOW the show, are going to KNOW the words to the "real song" and want to know WHY the book gets it wrong.

Text: 3 out of 5
Illustrations: 3 out of 5
Total: 6 out of 10

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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