Tootle facts for kids
Tootle (ISBN: 0307020975) is a super popular children's book. It was written by Gertrude Crampton and drawn by Tibor Gergely way back in 1945. This book is part of the famous Little Golden Books series from Simon & Schuster. By 2001, Tootle was the third best-selling hardcover children's book ever written in English! That's a lot of copies!
Contents
What the Story is About
Tootle's Big Dream
The main character of the story is a young train named Tootle. He is a baby 4-4-2 locomotive who goes to train school. Tootle has a big dream: he wants to grow up and become the "Flyer." The Flyer is a very important train that travels between New York and Chicago.
Learning to Be a Train
At train school, Tootle learns many important things. He practices stopping when he sees red flags. He also learns to pull a dining car without spilling any soup. But the most important lesson of all is to always stay on the train tracks.
Tootle's good friend and teacher, Bill, tells him something very important. Bill says that trains are only truly professional if they always stay on the rails. They need to get a perfect score, 100 A+, on this lesson.
A Tricky Race
One day, while Tootle is practicing staying on the tracks, something exciting happens. A horse challenges him to a race! They decide to race all the way to the river. Tootle is very fast, but he loses his lead when he goes around a curve. To catch up, Tootle decides to hop off the tracks. He runs through the grass and ties with the horse!
Playing in the Meadow
After that race, Tootle starts to really enjoy playing in the meadow. He spends more and more time off the tracks. Bill, his teacher, soon finds out about Tootle's new habit. Bill doesn't want Tootle to lose his chance to become the Flyer. So, Bill comes up with a clever plan. He talks to the mayor, and they work together to help Tootle get back on track.
A Lesson Learned
One day, Tootle is rolling along the tracks. He decides to hop off again to play in the meadow. But this time, he sees red flags everywhere in the grass! Trains really dislike stopping, and Tootle gets very frustrated.
Then, Tootle sees Bill. Bill is standing over the train tracks, holding a green flag. Tootle understands the message. He realizes that playing in the meadow only brings him trouble and red flags. He quickly gets back onto the tracks.
The town is very happy that Tootle has learned his lesson. They cheer for him! As a reward, Tootle gets his dream job: he becomes the Flyer on the route to Chicago.
Tootle the Teacher
Many years later, Tootle is older and much wiser. He teaches new, young locomotives the same lessons he learned. His most important advice to them is, "Stay on the rails no matter what."
