The Big Plane Trip; I Love Toy Trains 3; Into: Airports; Train Adventures For Kids: The Magical World Of Trains

Just when I thought it was safe to go back to my mailbox...more planes and trains videos! One of the best we've seen to date, The Big Plane Trip combines film and top-notch video to provide an entertaining and educational introduction to traveling by airplane. Narrated by children, the program begins at the airport where workers and airline crew prepare the McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 ("more powerful than 300 school buses") for a trip to Zurich, Switzerland. When one of the child narrators wonders aloud about something, the video cuts to a brief segment on topics ranging from how airline food is made (I was quite surprised to learn that it's not made in a plastics factory) to how much gas goes in a big plane (24,000 gallons; talk about your kerosene hogs). Viewers will watch a suitcase go through baggage to join 428 other suitcases, 7 baby strollers, 3 crates of live salamanders, but no partridge, in the baggage hold. Eight hours and 4,700 miles later, the plane touches down in Zurich, and viewers are treated to a mini-tour of Switzerland's attractions. Better than Let Me Tell You All About Planes (VL-11/94), this is an excellent video that will appeal to kids aged 4-8. Highly recommended.Taking a slightly different tack, Into: Airports is an enjoyably goofy fantasy in which a pair of siblings imagine a painter named Pinkerton who has magical powers: i.e., he can get them to the airport Peter Pan-style. Once there, the trio buy tickets, watch their luggage being mistreated by a large mechanical arm that comes out and punches suitcases into the baggage hold (no wonder the cookies are always smooshed), shop the concourse, visit Flying Food Services (where they make flying food, naturally), take a look around the air traffic control tower, and tour the inside of the plane. It's a cute tape that will crack up kids aged 2-6. Like Come Fly With Us (VL-11/94), the emphasis here is more on entertainment than education. Recommended.Amtrak train routes may be shrinking in real-life, but in the video world, train videos are chugging into Video Librarian Central more than ever. I Love Toy Trains 3 mixes footage of marvelous toy train layouts with live-action shots of real trains. Kids will see a model circus carnival with a train riding by, followed by a real carnival. They'll also see model coal-loaders, tree-loaders, and auto-loaders working feverishly and, more often than not, accompanied by humorous sound effects. The overall emphasis here is on fun, however, not just trains. Clips of Blue Angels, rollercoasters, tractors, and a guessing game called "Radio Sounds" are all entertaining but have nothing to do with the stated subject matter. Still, the majority of the program is about trains, and the model train footage is simply incredible (much better, for my money, than the Blue Angels clip we've all seen a million times). On balance, we recommend this for ages 3-8.Lastly, Train Adventures for Kids: The Magical World of Trains uses the same framing device as Into: Airports-- namely, a strange man appears to a pair of siblings and they go away with him. Except, this is imagination, and the strange man is only Smoky Jones, a magical engineer who introduces Jake and Jody to the wide world of trains: steam-engine powered, diesel-powered (diesel, for you trivia buffs, was invented by Rudolph Diesel), passenger, and freight. Kids will see the various kinds of train cars (oil, flat, box, caboose, etc.), both real and model, and learn what kinds of work trains do for us. Jake, Jody, and Smoky are a little too wide-eyed and hyper-enthusiastic for my tastes, but kids 3-7 will probably enjoy them. Not as good as What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up: Railroaders (VL-1/95), this is still recommended for larger collections. (R. Pitman)