"All aboard!"

The UK edition (right) has this rather dull cover when compared to the US edition.

 Canadian illustrator Pascal Blanchet has a wonderful distinct style to his work, with its flat areas of color and a simple construction to the overall illustration, a rather retro feel that combines great graphic sophistication. I bought the book to enjoy his work as well as the interesting page design.
　
It is, though, a rather odd children's book (it was originally published in French) because the illustrations are not the usual style that would be found in a title aimed at a younger readership. The small amount of text relates to a story by train starting in Canada then to New York, across the States, back into Canada and finally down the west coast to Los Angeles. The journey mixes historical facts about railroads, cities and geography presented in bite size chunks on each spread. A nice touch is a stylised ticket with the names of the fourteen cities visited on each relevant spread and the conductor punches out a hole.
　
For me this is a beautiful book of very graphic illustrations that probably visually aware adults would enjoy more than children.