Charlie the Choo-Choo: From the world of The Dark Tower Hardcover – Picture Book, November 22, 2016

So my girlfriend is a huge Steven King fan and has all of his books. We were reading The Dark Tower series together (me reading it for the first time) and they refer to this book in one of them. After seeing that VSauce mentioned this book actually being available on youtube, I decided it'd be a perfect addition to her collection since I knew that she didn't even know it existed. She absolutely loved it, it perfectly depicts the description of everything written in the original book it was referenced in, and is a perfect addition to any Steven King fans collection!

Charlie the Choo Choo emerges from the pages of Stephen King’s Gunslinger series, from The Wastelands, to be exact. King wrote this children’s story under the pseudonym of Beryl Evans and the initial release was at San Diego Comic Con this year. Issues have been offered by scalpers on the internet for well over 5 C-notes.This is the exact picture book that fans of the series pictured in their heads. Charlie the Choo Choo and Engineer Bob are never exactly sinister in this rendering but surely “off kilter” in a way that makes your ill at ease. The illustrations are from the studio of Ned Dameron who provided the brilliant renderings for The Waste Lands.The basic story is how Charlie is scheduled to be replaced by the Burlington Zephyr Diesel Locomotive. Charlie is left to rust in a vacant field, over grown with weeds and serving as a home for field mice. Nice child’s story, yes? But there’s that edge, there is something that is instilled in the book more by the illustrations than by the words.I wouldn’t worry about giving this book to children but the better choice would be to gift it to your friends and relatives who are fans of the King.

Great gift for any The Dark Tower fan!The recipient looked very confused and said "Oh my! I know this book!!! HOW do YOU know this book!?," started smiling and absolutely loved it! 💕It's unsettling, the pictures evoke discomfort, the story unease. It's a cautionary tale, not a typical children's book.

Do you like trains? Have you ever taken a ride on a train?The author, Beryl Evans, has written a riveting book about Charlie the Choo-Choo, and his Engineer Bob. They both worked for the Mid-World Railway Company, and their route was from St Louis to Topeka. This was a very busy line, and Bob and Charlie were the very best. They were the fastest and the best. Charlie was a 402 Big Boy locomotive, and he ran on coal. Together had many, many fun runs together, until one day, Bob could hear someone singing. When you read this book, you will discover who was singing, and several other big secrets.Adults will enjoy reading this book to their children, and children who can read by themselves will also love this story. This is the kind of story with a lesson to be learned, and often those are the very best. This is a fun story that may elicit many questions from children. What is coal? How does a train run on coal? Who was singing? The illustrations by Ned Dameron are bright, vivid and colorful, and they depict Charlie the Choo-Choo and Engineer Bob in all their glory. What a wonderful life for both of them. And, now we have newer trains, but arethey as much fun as Charlie Choo-Choo? As Stephen King, another author, has said, if he were to write a children's book it would be just like this!Recommended. prisrob 11-22-16

Don't even think about it...just buy it! Fantastic illustrations that are just as depicted in The Waste Lands.And don't forget to get The Little Sisters of Eluria and Wind Through the Keyhole so that your Dark Tower collection is complete!

This children's book has all the elements of a Stephen King novel: Descriptive setups of characters and the environment, interesting characters with clear motivations, and even inanimate objects coming to life in unexpectedly odd and sinister ways. Really all that's missing is the homicide.I'm an avid Stephen King fan of course, but my child isnt. I'm not sure what impression it would leave on her.The characters are drawn to look a bit insane and demented, the colors are pretty drab, and there's even a mention that the main character train driver's wife died. On top of that the train sings a song that ends with "till I die".Fully what I expected of course, but more of a gag than something you'd actually want to rrad to your child and expect them to enjoy. Who knows though, maybe my daughter will end up just as attracted to spooks as I am.