Thomas and the Big Big Bridge

Thomas and the Big Big Bridge by W. Awdry is an adventure for 5 year olds about a little engine catching everybody else's nerves on the way up a mountain.

What happens

It is a special day on Sodor. A new railway line has opened up into the mountains, and with it a bridge whose towers are so high the tops touch the sky.

Thomas thinks this is marvellous. Then Henry chugs up with a frown.

Henry does not fancy the mountains. It is windy up there and Henry does not like wind. He is not keen on rain or snow or hail either.

Thomas tells him he is a big engine and should not be afraid of a bit of wind. Then he goes and gets a bit afraid himself.

That is the whole lovely trick of this one. You watch the worry hop from engine to engine.

Percy and James are quietly relieved they are not going. Henry slows to a crawl at the foot of the mountain. Thomas keeps announcing that there is nothing to be afraid of, loudly, mostly so he can hear it too.

Gordon races off up the steep track without breaking a sweat, which helps nobody.

So by the time they reach the top it is Thomas who has to go first. Henry's advice is to shut his eyes if the wind blows, because then he will not see anything scary.

Which is how a very small engine ends up in the middle of a very high bridge with his eyes screwed shut and his front wheels off the rails. (His passengers, meanwhile, are having a wonderful time admiring the view.)

Read it out loud and you will see what it is built for. The big, big bridge comes round again and again. The click-clack of the wheels is there to be said properly. Sentences are short and there is a sound effect waiting on nearly every page.

There is a proper wobble in the middle though. Thomas is stuck up there, eyes shut, going nowhere, and that goes on for a little while.

If heights make your reader uneasy, that could be a lot at bedtime. If heights are not their thing to worry about, or you are happy to talk it through, this is a kind story to have. Nobody in it manages to be brave the whole way through, Thomas included.

What to read next

Henry has a story of his own in the library. In Henry and the Elephant he is grumbling round the yard with too much work on, and then something turns up stuck in his tunnel that he was not expecting at all. The words sit in short lines, a handful at a time, so a child starting to read a bit for themselves can have a go at it.