Elena de Roo is an Auckland children’s writer and poet. Her
first book, The Rain Train, was illustrated by Brian Lovelock. This
was followed by the Ophelia Wild series, illustrated by Tracy
Duncan. The Name at the End of the Ladder, a junior fiction fantasy
novel, will be released in 2014 from Walker Books Australia.
Brian Lovelock is a scientist working in the power industry in New
Zealand. He has painted all his life but has only recently ventured
into the world of book illustration. His previous titles with
Walker Books Australia include Your Mother Didn’t Do That! and
Roadworks which won the Picture Book category in the 2009 New
Zealand Post Book Awards for Children & Young Adults. In 2013,
Brian was long-listed for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Award for his
work on Demolition. In 2014, Flight of the Honey Bee won the LIANZA
Russell Clark Illustration Award, was a Storylines Notable Book and
was a finalist for the LIANZA Elsie Locke Non-Fiction Award and the
New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.
De Roo’s rhyming, lyrical text never derails; the onomatopoeic
verse rolls rhythmically along, both lulling listeners and moving
the action forward.…Lovelock’s misty watercolor and ink
illustrations, dominated by dusky purples and blues, convey the
excitement of a special nighttime journey. The Rain Train’s
soothing words and colors should deliver little travelers straight
to dreamland.
*Horn Book*
An accomplished text for a first-time writer of picture books, but
de Roo, a poet, does it well. Nicely composed and full of vitality,
the illustrations capture the mood of the verse and the movement of
the train as well as the children’s quiet pleasure in this imagined
journey.
*Booklist*
This appealing variation on the nighttime story will put children’s
imaginations on a soothing track for going to bed.
*School Library Journal*
Ask a Question About this Product More... |