Gr 2-4-Using the motif of a circus train, S's has designed a different car for each state in the Union and a caboose for Washington, DC. A great deal of research went into this book as evidenced by the many tiny details in each watercolor painting. The cars are lined up chronologically according to their date of statehood and are decorated with the state flag, nickname, motto, bird, tree, and animal as well as important people or sites. Readers who have researched a state and are familiar with its history will appreciate the full-page vignettes, but for those who are not, some of the pictures without labels will have little meaning. These details are explained in a section at the back that also provides the key to the symbols that appear throughout. Students who need to research states for reports should try Benjamin F. and Barbara S. Shearer's State Names, Seals, Flags and Symbols (Greenwood, 2001). S's's engaging title, however, is a browser's ticket for a cross-country journey and a treat for trivia lovers everywhere.-Laurie Edwards, Infinity Charter School, Harrisburg, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Combining the author/illustrator's stated "love for [his] adopted country with [his] admiration for antique circus wagons," this offering serves up 50 cars, one for each state, and "a most marvelous caboose" (Washington, DC). Each meticulously decorated car--ordered by each state's admission to the Union--includes such standard details as flag, state critters, and nickname, as well as various notable state residents. To make sure the most important information doesn't slip by, a panel at the bottom includes the state tree, flower, and bird (replicating the facts above), capital, and a random factoid ("North Dakota has 63 National Wildlife Refuges, more than any other state"). State-fact purists will no doubt be peeved to find that mottoes properly expressed in languages other than English are translated with no indication of such (New Mexico's Latin "Crescit Eundo" becomes "It grows as it goes"). It's certainly a very pretty caravan, Sís's propensity for itty-bitty detail leading to some highly ornate wagons, but the overall impression of the whole is a big "So what?" One can't even fall back on the standard "Good for reports." (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

(Primary) Picturing the fifty states as a train of circus wagons encourages both an imaginative use of graphic filigree and a certain monotony of page design. Paraded in the order of their statehood, each state (with the District of Columbia as the caboose) becomes a lavishly detailed and annotated circus wagon decorated with such items as the state bird, nickname, tree, flower, motto (in English), flag, and notable citizens. These motifs are standard to all the wagons; other details such as a Cajun melodeon for Louisiana and a Hershey's Kiss for Pennsylvania contribute to the uniqueness of each one. Sis's abundant wit shines through each line-and-watercolor painting (one wagon per page), but significant details are often tiny or generalized and the caricatures of people are inexpert. Although the wagons are distinct, taken in a row their penchant for symmetry becomes too apparent, and a running yellow bottom border reiterating main facts weighs down the whimsy and makes the book look more useful than it is. But taken wagon by rococo wagon, it's clear that the circus promised at the end of the line is going to be a swell one. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Uncle Sam conducts the patriotic engine of this line of 50 railroad cars (one per state), and Washington, D.C., brings up the rear as caboose. Czechoslovakian-born Sis combines his love for his adopted country (his home for more than two decades) with his admiration for antique circus wagons (from an introductory note). The cars appear chronologically, according to their date of statehood. Readers will pore over the unique design of each, which incorporates the state's flag, motto, nickname and the genesis of its name, as well as labeled images of the state tree, flower and bird. Underneath the cars, Sis lists the state capital, then repeats the state tree, flower and bird, adding a piece of trivia (e.g., "In Barrow, Alaska's northernmost point, the sun doesn't set for 84 days during the summer months"). Given the prescribed space allotted to each state, the duplication of some of these facts comes at the expense of additional information. But the wagons teem with interesting details (explained in an endnote); they include miniature portraits of presidents or other celebrities who hail from the state (Ben Franklin tops the Pennsylvania circus wagon), milestones (Ohio had the first professional baseball team; women could first vote in Wyoming) and relevant symbols (Mount Rushmore for South Dakota). Sis's signature fine black line limns entire vignettes while his watercolor wash adds depth and perspective. He gives both youngsters hungry for state facts and those casting about for unusual historical morsels ample reason to climb aboard this festive train. Ages 6-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

K-Gr. 3. Czech-born illustrator Sis celebrates his adopted country with an election-year salute to its 50 states. Inspired by his visit to Wisconsin's Circus World Museum, he presents each state as an elaborately decorated, antique circus wagon, emblazoned with symbolic, often whimsical images that range from state birds to native trees (and sons). Together, the wagons comprise a train of states being pulled, on kaleidoscopic wheels, past a schoolroom of dazzled children. The cars are ordered by the date of the state's admission to the union, leading off with Delaware, The First State, and concluding with a Washington, D.C., caboose. In the cab of a red-white-and-blue locomotive are the iconographic figures of Uncle Sam and an American eagle. A banner at the bottom of each page notes the state capital, tree, flower, and bird, along with a fun fact (elk, deer, and antelope outnumber humans in Montana). But it's the wagons--with their rococo embellishments and glorious gallimaufry of visual factoids, trivia, hoopla, and American hyperbole--that command attention and invite endless, wondering reexamination. Each look reveals something new, and, as if that were not enough, an appended page of notes offers further information that encourages children to create their own train of states. Another dazzler from the incomparable Sis. --Michael Cart Copyright 2004 Booklist