Book Review: Santa and the Goodnight Train

Santa and the Goodnight Train
By: June Sobel
Illustrated by: Laura Huliska-Beith
Reviewed by: Amanda Huneke

Strung with lights and cookies stowed, the Goodnight Train rides to the North Pole! With cookie-loaded cars, candy cane-lined streets, and frosting-topped houses, Huliska-Beith’s illustrations are a treat; and Sobel’s Christmas-themed verses add rhythm and cheer at every turn. Children will be captivated by each passing page as the holiday train chugs through towns of gingerbread and hills of gumdrops, and young readers can enjoy familiar lines, such as “Ho! Ho! Ho!” in the accompanying text. Caregivers will find humor in the delightful cast of characters—a cooking-stealing sheep, comical train car-bathing penguin, and the piggy porter who tries to instill order aboard the train as he checks the tickets twice to see who has been “naughty” and who has been “nice.” As the Goodnight Train nears the North Pole, sleepy eyes will enjoy catching glimpses of Santa hiding amidst the red and green images galore; and the dark, star-speckled backdrops and soothing text will carry bedtime readers past the North Pole and into Dreamland.