Thomas and the Shadowy Night is a "play-a-sound" book.
Throughout the book, readers are able to interact with the pages, using the torch to play sounds (There are illustrations in the text informing the reader on what button to press and when) and shining the flashlight onto the page to make shadows.
Plot
Percy is unable to pull his mail train, so Thomas is given the job. He boasts about this to Gordon and James, who warns him about the shadowy path he will have to puff through. Thomas dismisses their warnings, claiming he is not scared of shadows.
Soon Thomas reaches the forest that James warned him about. He is sure he is not scared, but then hears another engine's whistle. Thomas becomes scared since there are not any other engines around and he does not know who made the whistle.
Trying to convince himself it was nothing, Thomas quickly puffs away, especially when he hears the strange whistle again. He comes to a tunnel, where he sees the silhouette of a man inside. Thomas becomes scared again, even though the man is made through a strange hole through some cobwebs.
Thomas soon finds Rocky on the line, right next to what appears to be a big ghost engine. Thomas asks Rocky if he had heard a whistle, to which Rocky replies that he had only heard Edward, who had brought him there. Thomas, concludes that he was hearing Edward's whistle all along.
Thomas completes his mail run on time and returns to the sheds. Thomas tells Gordon and James that he was scared, but kept ongoing. Sir Topham Hatt is proud of him and praises him for being brave and really useful. When he leaves, the engines fall fast asleep for the night.
Characters
Locations
- Tidmouth Sheds
- Unnamed line
- Woods
- Tunnel
- Building with Chimney
Trivia
- Various items such as tickets and carved into Tidmouth sheds and the station that cast a shadow when shone through.
Goofs
- In the first illustration, Thomas's face is too big and his buffer beam is too small. Gordon's eyes are also wonky.
- Because of how the book is designed, some tracks of the pop-up sections do not align with the ones on the page.
- It is said that Thomas was pulling the mail train, but he has no mail trucks at any point in the story.
- Tidmouth Sheds only has three berths and no turntable.
- Thomas' lamp is missing on page 4.
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