Thomas and the Treasure

We own dozens of Thomas books. Some are primers, some are coloring books, and some are on a level where an adult must read them. And having read most of them numerous times I've noticed that, in general, the Thomas and Friends books are either very good or awful.

The awful ones are generally the ones with photos from the television show. For some reason many of the photographs are muddy in color and not very appealing. This, of course, doesn't bother my kids nearly as much as it does my husband and myself. Children are just VERY forgiving of picture quality as long as those pictures are of their favorite Steamies. We adults would like a little quality for our money please.

The awful ones also suffer from being badly edited. So much so, that in some cases you would be hard pressed to know what was happening if you hadn't already seen the television show.

Now fortunately, Thomas and the Treasure doesn't fall into the 'awful' category. The stories are well done and WOOHOO! the publisher has updated the format. This book, which was published in 2008, has more and better photos, many of which have small colorful bands (frames?) around them to set them off.

Hurray for the New Thomas!

In Thomas and the Treasure, you get 3 stories. Thomas and the Treasure, of course, Duncan's Bluff, and Seeing the Sights. If you don't recall the adventure in the title story, it begins with Salty spinning a yarn about lost pirate treasure. While everyone else rolls their eyes in disbelief, Thomas takes the riddle to heart and sets about to unravel the clues. For awhile, matters go amuck as Thomas forgets other tasks. And it does looks like he's on a wild goose chase, but in the end, he is rewarded for his faith and intelligent inquiry.

In Duncan's Bluff, Duncan and James come to loggerheads when Duncan taunts James about his workload, and the feisty red engine counters that he can work harder and be more useful than Duncan ever dreamed of being. A competition ensues and when it looks like he is going to lose, Duncan tricks James. As with all wayward acts, this little slight of track backfires. It ends with Duncan seeing the error of his ways, and he and James reconcile and realize that it is better to work together than against one another.

Finally, in Seeing the Sights, Thomas gets so caught up in trying to compete with the powerful Gordon, that he ends up doing a terrible job showing visitors about the island. He rushes them around, until he figures out that "seeing" a sight is not as good as "enjoying" a sight. This is a stop and smell the roses sort of story. The rose in this case being a delightful day at the beach.

All-in-all Thomas and the Treasure is a winner. Though I personally prefer some of the drawn Thomas artwork, this new photo format is very nice and the the stories are good, well written, and the book's bound to please any Steamie lover.

Considerations :::
No Accelerated Reading designation found. This one is for adults to read. The stories are typical of the Thomas genre; there is some teasing and dishonesty, but the stories always make it clear that this is not proper behavior. Good Read-aloud.

Pam T
Somewhere in the X-burbs


Thomas and the Treasure
by R. Schuyler Hooke

No Reading Level Information Available

• Paperback: 24 pages
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
  
• ISBN-10: 037584287X
  -- see sample pages