About the Holiday

If you like dressing casually for work, then you’re going to love today’s holiday. Why is National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day celebrated today? It follows what may be one of the most stressful days in the US calendar—April 15, or Tax Day. While it may not actually be possible to wear your comfiest clothes to the office, you and your family could make that change as soon as you get home and wear your pajamas for dinner, homework, house projects, or whatever you have going.

Night Train: A Journey from Dusk to Dawn

Written by Annie Cronin Romano | Illustrated by Ileana Soon

As dusk descends, the night train wakens, “groggy, stretching.” Coal’s loaded in while excited passengers get on board. The night train creeps up the hills, winding its way through stands of pine trees, startling small creatures with its clattering wheels. After navigating the hills, the night train crosses wide plains, where “wheat fields sway their golden greetings.”

The train chugs across a bridge, where, below, a deer has come to the edge of the river to drink and a raccoon silently watches. As a dad and his son eat and chat in the dining car, the train travels by “whitewashed barns” and races wild stallions. The train rumbles into a tunnel where the track is cloaked in darkness by the “granite passage.” But its “headlamp brightens, pathway lightens— / never-fearing, calmly steering night train.”

The train approaches its destination just as the sun begins to lighten the sky. The city is coming awake; children rising, workmen rushing. The night train’s breaks squeal as it thunders into the station, slows and stops. The “worn conductor yawns and stretches,” and the train, its journey finished, gets to sleep.

Annie Cronin Romano’s lovely, lyrical ode to the mystery and allure of a nighttime journey by train is the perfect antidote to a busy day for sleepy children or those who just need some down time. Through rhythmic phrasing, the sounds of the train as it progresses on its steady route play out, enveloping readers in a blanket of security and custom that mirrors the constant love and care of the adults in the young reader’s life.

Ileana Soon takes children on a gorgeous journey from golden sunset to velvet blue night to pastel dawn. As evening settles in, the train makes its way up dusky brown hills while small animals scurry away from the clattering wheels. Seen from above, the train puffs along tracks that are as straight as an arrow cutting through a vast wheat field. Silhouetted horses race the train, but like the little bats in the sky, they are soon left behind. When dawn breaks, the town welcomes the train and its passengers with lighted windows and a busy station.

Night Train: A Journey from Dusk to Dawn is a beautiful bedtime or quiet time story and would be a favorite on home, school, or public library bookshelves.

Ages 4 – 8

Page Street Kids, 2019 | ISBN 978-1624146572

Discover more about Annie Cronin Romano and her books on her website

To learn more about Ileana Soon and her art, visit her website.

National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day Activity

Riding the Rails Dot to Dot

Taking a trip by train long distance can be fun—especially if you travel overnight in a sleeper car! Instead of counting sheep, count and follow the numbers in this printable Riding the Rails Dot to Dot.