Engine Engine Number Nine

Engine, Engine, Number Nine is rolling, rolling down the line, but where is it headed? In this version of the familiar rhyme, the destination is ultimately revealed to be the county fair-a gently comic premise that enables Calmenson (Dinner at the Panda Palace) and Meisel (I Am Really a Princess) to load up the train, stop by stop, with a panoply of human and animal passengers, ranging from a prize pink pig to an entire marching band. The author builds some narrative tension by alternating pairs of simple couplets (""Ducks and geese/ Wait at the track./ Listen to them/ Honk and quack""), with longer strings of rhyming verse that ponder (rhetorically, of course) where the train is going-although it's a good bet that only the very youngest child will be surprised when the mystery destination is revealed. Meisel's bright ink and watercolor drawings depict a sunny cartoon countryside, and here and there his animals exhibit some goofy, human qualities (one sheep reads a newspaper on the train, for example); curving typography reminiscent of rolling train tracks is also a nice touch. All told, it's a cheery, workmanlike effort, pleasing but perhaps a bit prosaic; it may make a bigger impression on an audience younger than the one to which it is targeted. Ages 3-7. (Mar.)