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		Trouble on the Tracks written and illustrated by Kathy Mallat 2001 Walker & Company Tr $15.95 ISBN 0-8027-8771-1 RTE $16.85 ISBN 0-8027-8773-8		"Young trainiacs will want repeated rides." Kirkus Reviews
All aboard! The train is leaving the station. It's a beautiful day for a journey, but there may be trouble ahead on the tracks. A clever twist in this delightful story will have readers going back again and again to discover and share the hidden surprises, looking for clues because... things are not always what they seem.
Meghan Mallat building the train display.
Personal Note The only thing my daughter, Meg, wanted for her tenth birthday was a model train engine and some track. Who knew that her choice of gifts would provide the inspiration for a book? I thought about this story idea for a very long time before putting it down on paper. The idea of doing such technical drawings of a train was a little overwhelming, and I knew I would have to do it well in order to pull off the twist in the book. Trouble on the Tracks is probably the most labor-intensive book I've done to date, but it's also one that I am most proud of.
As I worked...
Last page - photo study		Last page - sketch		Last page - finished art
	The photo study of the Engineer, Scott
	The first sketch
	The refined sketch with the background
	The finished art
School Library Journal September 2001 PreS - Gr 2 A passenger train is leaving the station. The engineer checks his engine and the conductor gives the all-clear signal as a few last-minute riders climb aboard. The train rolls forward through fields and villages. Suddenly, there is trouble, two huge amber eyes fill a double-page spread, and cars are overturned. Yes, the train is a model trundling along the playroom floor and Trouble is a cat who enjoys causing derailments. The child engineer and his toy finally appear in their true relative sizes as the train is laid back on the tracks, and the tumbled little forest is also righted. The cat pads away. The fun for her is over. The page-filling illustrations stand out in deep rich colors. The toylike look of the conductor and the passengers nevertheless seems real enough until the secret is revealed. Children who lose themselves in the world of play will enjoy this happy depiction of a favorite game. -- Ruth Semrau, Upshur County Public Library, Gilmer, TX
School Library Journal
Kirkus Reviews July 1 2001 Mallat (Brave Bear, 1999) plays with the viewer's perception of scale in this brief but eventful train ride. "Next stop, Black Paw Crossing!" calls the conductor, and the train chugs off, blowing its whistle as it passes greenery and waving villagers. Suddenly, two huge eyes (one on each of double pages) in an inky black face signal "Trouble on the tracks!" Trouble the cat, that is, who saunters away through the suddenly small trees and houses, leaving the derailed train, now seen to be a model, for its full-sized young "engineer" to put to rights. In magic marker and colored-pencil illustrations, Mallat gives her figurines inconspicuous flat bases from the beginning, a clue that is likely to elude children and adults alike at first pass, despite a heavy hint in the flap copy. Fans of Van Allsburg's Bad Day at Riverbend (1995) or David Macaulay's classic Black and White (1990), as well as young trainiacs, will want repeated rides. (Picture book. 4-6)
The Curriculum Resources Laboratory, University of Iowa August/September 2001 Kathy Mallat's Trouble on the Tracks (Walker, 2001) is laugh out loud funny. What looks like a typical train ride is interrupted when the train becomes derailed. While close observers may not be surprised at what is really going on in this picture book, other readers will chuckle when they realize the author/illustrator has taken them for a ride. A close second reading will reveal numerous clues. The stylized illustrations, done with markers and colored pencils and spread across two pages, will work well with groups of children.
The Curriculum Resources Laboratory, University of Iowa
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