Thomas gets a snowplow

Thomas gets a snowplow by Rev. W. Awdry is a short winter story for 5 year olds about doing the sensible thing even when it makes you look daft.

What happens

Thomas's driver wants the plough tried on before the weather turns. Thomas is not keen at all.

It isn't that the thing doesn't work. It's that he is sure he'll look silly and the bigger engines will laugh at him.

Which they do. James takes one look and says it's like a tin can. Henry announces that he is big enough to get through plenty of snow without one, thank you very much.

Thomas goes red and asks his driver to take it off again. His driver says all right, then has another look at the sky.

You can see exactly where this is going, and that's rather the point. Your reader will be a step ahead of Thomas the whole way, which is a very satisfying place for a 5 year old to sit.

The stops along his branch line are a nice touch. Extra blankets for an innkeeper. Snow shovels and hats and mittens for the general store. Nobody mentions a storm (everyone is quietly getting ready for one anyway).

Then it starts snowing in earnest. Thomas gets home the hard way, telling himself the whole time that he managed perfectly well without a silly snowplow.

And then Sir Topham Hatt hurries in. Toby is stranded out on his own line and will be there all night unless somebody goes for him.

Henry is sent first. He is the biggest engine there and he has just finished saying he doesn't need a plough for weather like this.

The feelings in this one are simple and very easy to recognise. Being laughed at. Pretending it doesn't bother you. Then watching the engine who laughed find out he can't manage after all.

Nothing frightening happens. Toby is cold and buried and feeling sorry for himself, and that is as far as the danger goes.

One thing to expect. It's an American edition, so it's snowplow rather than snowplough all the way through, and mittens rather than gloves. Fine to read aloud, although you may get a question about the spelling.

What to read next

If your reader is here for the engines rather than the plot, try Henry and the Elephant. Henry takes the workmen out to a blocked tunnel, something enormous shoves him and his trucks straight back out of it, and he is a good deal less sure of himself than he is in this one.