"A Crack in the Track"

Another installment in our series of Gabriel reading, recorded last week. This mother's review perfectly captures how I feel about this book.

Henry the Green Engine had a boilerache.

"Peep, peep," said Thomas. "I can take the people where they want to go."

Soon clouds gathered. The sky grew dark. Thunder rumbled.

Plip, plop, CLUNK! Hail began to fall.

Suddenly, Thomas stopped. The hail had made a crack in the track!

The people climbed down from the coaches. They climbed up aboard Bertie and off he went.

Suddenly, Bertie stopped. There in the road was a bright green toad.

Bertie's driver called out, "There's a toad in the road! We will have to unload." (That toad in the road caused a fuss on the bus.)

The people walked to another train station. But the trains were not running.

Thomas was still stuck at the crack in the track. Percy was stuck there at Thomas' back.

Gordon was stuck behind Thomas and Percy. James, with two freight cars was in quite a hurry. 

The foolish freight cars refused to back up. "No, no, no!" they said. "We will not go!" they said.

So no trains could move up. And no trains could move back.

They were stuck where they were at that crack in the track!

The breakdown crew came to replace the track. The crew came with cranes. They sang while they worked.
"A crane is as good as a bus or a train. We'll fix up your track, and we don't mind the rain."

Finally, all the trains could move. They turned on the turntable and went back to work.

At the station, the people asked Thomas, "Are you sure you can take us where we want to go?"

"I thought there was nothing a train could not do," said Thomas. "But now I know that just is not true. I learned a big lesson from one little crack. A train is only as good as its track."