A long, long time ago I did a whole month of FFC posts highlighting some of my favorite Little Golden Books characters. I love so many of them that a few inevitably got left out, so tonight I’m finally starting to fix that.
Like a lot of people, some of the very first books I ever owned were Little Golden Books, and many of those characters still live in my heart. They’re the kinds of characters that help kids fall in love with reading, a gift they’ve been bestowiing for decades now. Tonight’s character debuted in 1945 in his self-titled book by Gertrude Crampton, and he has never been out of print. The sheer number of hearts and minds he’s touched, including my own, is honestly unfathomable. And as you’ve already seen from the title of this post, I’m talking about Tootle — the lovable train with a focusing problem.
Tootle, who is a youngster himself, goes to train school with dreams of becoming the Flyer between New York and Chicago. The one lesson drilled into his metallic little noggin over and over is simple: a good train stays on the tracks. One day he’s challenged to a race by a horse, and in order to win, he jumps the tracks and barrels into a meadow. What he doesn’t foresee is that he’s about to fall in love with meadow romps—chasing butterflies, enjoying the flowers, and generally living his best life. Through some clever trickery, the townspeople bring an end to his gallivanting and get him back on track (literally) toward Flyer stardom.
There’s an obvious lesson to be taken from Tootle’s story and a subtle one as well that I personally feel is a little emotionally damaging, but neither are what stayed with me over the years. What stuck with me was how Tootle made me feel—that spark of wonder and joy that hits you when a book opens up a little world just for you.
And just a quick thank-you to Michelle of True Book Addict for designing the brand-new FFC image. She made the original one as well, and even though I’m a bit sad to set that one aside, I’m genuinely in love with this new look.
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