The Little Engine That Could

My first post on Means2Me had to be my 1930 copy of the wonderful children’s book, The Little Engine That Could, Retold by Watty Piper and Illustrated by Lois Lenski.

For those who are concerned about condition and wear and tear, this copy is in good condition, with day-to-day shelf wear on the edges of the cover, and a small tear on the bottom left corner of the title page/first illustration page. It also has light marking on the back cover. But for me, the value of this item is much more to be found in my memories than in the condition of the book. As I turn the pages and look at the wonderful Lois Lenski illustrations, I hear again my grandfather’s voice as he read to me at night before bed. And I also see myself sitting at my grandmother’s kitchen table one evening while she cooked our supper, working hard to sound out new words, and learning to see how those words fit together to make sentences. And I recall how those sentences eventually…became a story. And I sat at that table enthralled as I read about the Little Engine pulling its train over the mountains to the children waiting on the other side.

What could be more exciting than learning to read a story to yourself? From that moment, I was hooked. While I still pestered all the adults I knew to read to me every chance I got, I also took every opportunity to read on my own.

And more than 50 years later, reading is still my favorite pastime, one I never grow tired of. Reading has taken me around America and around the world, all the way from the Ozarks with Wilson Rawls’ Where the Red Fern Grows to the Himalayas with Jamie Zeppa’s Beyond the Sky and Earth: A Journey into Bhutan. Who knows where I’ll get to go next? And it all began with The Little Engine That Could. Now I hope someone else will learn to read from this book too and will go on to have just as much fun reading as I’ve had!