The Sleeper Train
A moonlit railway adventure perfect for bedtime reading with a 3, 4 or 5 year-old, written by a Booker shortlisted novelist
Published on 3. July 2025
Book
Hardback
32 pages
978-1-5295-1649-4 (ISBN)
Description
There is a train which has beds in their own small cabins so that you can sleep while the train rolls through the night. I went on one, not long ago...
"This visually vibrant yet gentle bedtime book promises, like the sleeper train, to calm and soothe readers." The Horn Book (starred review)
"Comforting, vibrant, soothing." Kirkus Review
"A lilting cultural touchstone great for bedtime." Booklist
"Layers feelings of comfort and warmth across time and space." Publishers Weekly
Just as it's starting to get dark, a little girl and her family board the sleeper train - they'll travel all through the night, and reach their destination in the morning. But as the train rocks from side to side, the little girl can't sleep. It's all too exciting! So, instead, she travels through her memory to all the different places she has slept - from her room at home, to a tent in the wild, to Mum's old room at Grandma and Grandad's house... But will that help her to drift off?
Gloriously illustrated in rich colours throughout, this captivating bedtime story will take readers on a journey through the vast Indian countryside, and carry them straight on to dreamland.
"This visually vibrant yet gentle bedtime book promises, like the sleeper train, to calm and soothe readers." The Horn Book (starred review)
"Comforting, vibrant, soothing." Kirkus Review
"A lilting cultural touchstone great for bedtime." Booklist
"Layers feelings of comfort and warmth across time and space." Publishers Weekly
Just as it's starting to get dark, a little girl and her family board the sleeper train - they'll travel all through the night, and reach their destination in the morning. But as the train rocks from side to side, the little girl can't sleep. It's all too exciting! So, instead, she travels through her memory to all the different places she has slept - from her room at home, to a tent in the wild, to Mum's old room at Grandma and Grandad's house... But will that help her to drift off?
Gloriously illustrated in rich colours throughout, this captivating bedtime story will take readers on a journey through the vast Indian countryside, and carry them straight on to dreamland.
Reviews / Votes
A warm-hearted tale of family love and togetherness. . . [a] soothing bedtime story. * Red Reading Hub *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
Children/juvenile
Interest Age: From 3 to 7 years
Dimensions
Height: 238 mm
Width: 278 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
432 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5295-1649-4 (9781529516494)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Mick Jackson is an author from Lancashire, who now lives in Brighton. His first novel, The Underground Man, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and won the Royal Society of Authors' First Novel Award. He has since written three more novels, a novella and a collection of stories. He is also the author of picture books: While You're Sleeping, The Red Sledge, Ella May Does It Her Way and We're Moving House. Find Mick online at mickjackson.com and on Twitter as @mickwriter.
Baljinder Kaur is an illustrator living in the Midlands. She graduated from the Cambridge School of Art with a Masters degree in Children's Book Illustration and, in 2022, was awarded the CSACBI Illustration for Older Fiction Prize. Her work intimately reflects through the lens of a Panjabi and Sikh diaspora existence. You can find her online at baljinderkaur.com and on Instagram as @blahjinder.
Baljinder Kaur is an illustrator living in the Midlands. She graduated from the Cambridge School of Art with a Masters degree in Children's Book Illustration and, in 2022, was awarded the CSACBI Illustration for Older Fiction Prize. Her work intimately reflects through the lens of a Panjabi and Sikh diaspora existence. You can find her online at baljinderkaur.com and on Instagram as @blahjinder.