Thomas & Friends Story Time Collection (Thomas & Friends)

Really dense, boring stories that sort of try to make a point but can't. Reads like a legal disclaimer on a vacuum cleaner. Tried a bunch of them and went for a better book half way every time.

I can't understand the target age. On the one hand, these stories free from any subtlety, which may work for a younger toddler. On the other hand, they're at a much higher reading level (again, think legal disclaimer).

Illustrations are nice and detailed, except individual characters are barely distinguishable, adding visual boredom to story boredom.

Pretty much every page is a picture of one or several similar trains. It's sometimes hard to tell on a spread whether the picture spans the whole spread or it's two separate ones because it's just more trains.

My son loves this book. It has multiple stories inside it which makes it a great book to read from each night to your child. The pictures are very nice and fill each page with the text only taking up a small portion. The pages all have a shiny gold along the outside making the book look very expensive. The back of the book shows the MSRP as $15.99. I was able to purchase this book here on the store for less with Prime shipping.

The back of the book reads "All aboard as Thomas, Percy, James, Gordon, Edward, Lady, and all their friends from the Island of Sodor share fun, adventure, excitement, and most of all-great friendship!"

My 2 and a half year old absolutely adores Thomas so I knew this book was going to be the perfect gift for him! So many different stories and trains he just loves it! And the size makes it perfect to the with us whoever we go!

This book is the absolute worst. Every story is disjointed, or menacing, and many times both. For example, the engine that scares the crap out of other engines by saying there's a monster under their shed. That's a fun bedtime story to read to your 3-year-old. Or what about the evil diesel who makes fun of Mr. Conductor, a man who sparkles with gold dust, by calling him "Twinkle Toes" and threatening him with serious bodily harm? Or the little engine that thought he (essentially) killed another train by accidentally shoving him off of a barge - and he's lived in shame with this secret for years? Or - wait for it - the one where Thomas is kidnapped and held against his will.

Each story is worst than the last. None of them have any redeeming qualities and most just encourage your kid to act like a jerk.

I usually don't write reviews and hate to complain, but this book smells HORRIBLE, as if it it is the most toxic thing I've ever smelled. As soon as I have a new Thomas book for my son, I will be throwing it in the garbage before it makes my family sick. Other than that problem, there are much better Thomas books out there. The stories are very awkwardly written, and the reviewer who said that the stories consist of bullying trains getting their way and stories that can be scary for toddlers was exactly right.