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Title: A STORY THAT MAKES YOU SING
Review: Bright with Michael McCurdy's striking woodblock illustrations, "The Train They Call The City of New Orleans," a classic tune captured by the voice of Arlo Guthrie, comes to lilting life beginning with a map of the train trip from Chicago to New Orleans.Evocative of a time when most travelers in the United States crossed the country by train, the lyrics of this familiar song are preceded by a map of the train's route.Beginning in wintry Illinois readers find the "restless riders" in one of those fifteen cars, and watch the conductors prepare for their duties. Sacks of mail are loaded, and then the train pulls out of Kankakee through "freight yards full of old black men and the graveyards of the rusted automobiles."Later Pullman porters ready berths for the night as engineers guide the mammoth locomotive toward the Midwest and Louisiana.Youngsters will respond to the arresting illustrations and soon be humming along with the narrative.- Gail Cooke
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