Dr. Donna's Review

In this action-packed tale of friendship, determination and teamwork Thomas discovers an abandoned and broken down engine named Hiro from an exciting far away land.  Fearing that he will be scrapped, Thomas enlists help from many friends including Victor, a new steam engine and Kevin, a new crane vehicle who both work at the spectacular Sodor Steam Works. But mishaps, mistakes and one boastful engine could foil their plans for a heroic rescue.  Can the engine pals work together to help their new friend?  Join the adventure and find out!

THEMES & OTHER THINGS

Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends on the Island of Sodor share another adventure with the Kidtoon family. The story of their efforts to save Hiro, the oldest, most interesting engine any of them have ever seen, will appeal to both boys and girls in the three to six year age group and to many of their older siblings. The storyline is simple enough for young children to follow but rich enough to engage both children from
3 to 9 years of age.

The characters grapple with several important and age-appropriate themes across the course of the story:

• Compassion - Being compassionate is an important character trait. Thomas models compassion when he goes out of his way to do kind and thoughtful deeds for Hiro. Thomas puts Hiro’s needs before his own needs.

• Diversity – When Thomas first meets Hiro, he feels somewhat afraid because he recognizes that Hiro is different from the other engines in Sodor. But he conquers his fear when he sees Hiro’s friendly smile. As they talk, Thomas learns how Hiro came to Sodor from Japan many, many years ago and is lonely for his friends back home.

• Responsibility and perseverance – Thomas accepts the responsibility to restore Hiro. He goes to great lengths to get the parts needed to make Hiro function again. Eventually Thomas learns that he needs to find a way to balance his responsibility to Hiro with his responsibility to his job, to Sir Topham Hat and to his friends.

• Recognizing and dealing with negative behavior in others - As soon as Spencer arrives on Sodor he begins to show-off and sets up a competition with Thomas. After Thomas meets Hiro, he knows he must keep Hiro’s presence secret from Spencer. Sure enough, when Spencer learns about Hiro, he threatens to tell. In spite of Spencer’s negative behavior, Thomas offers to help him finish building the summer home for the Duke and Duchess. Spencer learns his lesson and apologizes to everyone.

• Respect – Thomas is respectful of Hiro’s past as one the first and strongest engines on Sodor. He is also respectful of Hiro’s request that no one be told of his presence in the woods. Thomas understands that Hiro is afraid that because he is no longer useful, he will be scrapped and sent to the smelter.

• Cooperation and collaboration – Thomas tries very hard to carry out Hiro’s restoration all by himself but eventually he must acknowledge that he cannot do it alone. He enlists the help of all the other engines and even Sir Topham Hat. Working together as a team, they restore Hiro to his past glory.

These five themes deal with character traits and skills. Children benefit when they see desirable skills modeled by popular characters. Children need these skills as they venture beyond the world of family into the worlds of school, friends and community. The five themes offer good opportunities for discussion with children. Suggestions are provided in the section entitled Talking Points.

TALKING POINTS

• Help children recall the basic plot line and main points of the story: Spencer arrives on Sodor to work on the new summer home for the Duke and Duchess. Spencer challenges Thomas to a race. Thomas tries as hard as he can but loses his brakes on a steep hill, goes off the main track and ends up lost in the woods where he meets Hiro, an old broken down engine who is hiding in the woods. Thomas learns that Hiro was shipped to Sodor from Japan many years ago. Now Hiro hides because he is afraid that since he can no longer work, he’ll be scrapped and sent to the smelter. Thomas wants to restore Hiro so he can work again. He tries very hard. But Thomas learns that he can’t do the job alone. When he admits to his friends and to Sir Topham Hat that he needs help, they all come together, get Hiro fixed up and send him back home to Japan where he can be with his old friends. .

• Ask children to talk about how Thomas felt when he first learned that Spencer would be spending the whole summer on Sodor.
  
  
• Ask children to talk about Spencer. What kinds of things does Spencer do that bother others? Encourage children to see that Spencer’s showing off is annoying to others. Encourage them to understand that when Spencer follows Thomas around and tries to learn his secrets, he is not behaving like a friend. Talk about Spencer’s threat to tell Sir Topham Hat about Hiro. Why was that upsetting to the other engines?
  
  
• Talk with children about how Thomas felt when he first met Hiro. Why was he scared at first? What helped Thomas get over being scared?
  
  
• Talk about how strongly Thomas felt about helping Hiro. What do you think made Thomas want so much to help Hiro? Why didn’t Hiro want anyone to know that he was hiding in the woods?
  
  
• Thomas tried to do all the work of restoring Hiro by himself. Why did Thomas decide to tell Percy about Hiro and ask Percy to help? Why did Thomas and Percy decide they needed help from the other engines and even from Sir Topham Hat? How do you know when a job is just too big to do it by yourself?
  
  
• Talk about why Sir Topham Hat got upset with Thomas and Percy. Help children understand that in their eagerness to help Hiro, Thomas and Percy neglected their other jobs. Talk about how responsibilities need to be balanced so that jobs are done and done well.
  
  
• Even though Spencer did not act very nice, Thomas offered to help him finish work on the summer house. Why did Thomas help Spencer? Was that a good thing for Thomas to do?
  
  
• Spencer apologized to the others at the end of the story. Why did he finally apologize? What lessons did Spencer learn?
  

ACTIVITY IDEAS

Have children draw pictures of their favorite character from the movie. Write the name of the character on the picture. Post it for everyone to see.

Help children make up a story about Hiro. Make up a story about when Hiro first came to Sodor. Was he happy then? Why? How did Hiro look when he was a young, strong engine? Draw a picture of Hiro when he was young.

Hiro came from Japan. He works just like the other steam engines but he looks different. Putting “steam engines around the world” into your web browser will bring you to several sites that show photos of many different steam engines. Share and discuss these photos with children.

Thomas took the responsibility for getting Hiro fixed and he learned to keep up with his other jobs at the same time. Talk with children about responsibility. What jobs are they responsible for? When you have a job to do, others are counting on you to get the job done. Make a chart of members of the family and list the responsibilities that each one has. Talk about what happens if one member doesn’t meet their responsibilities. For example, if one forgets to feed the dog or water the plants.

BOOK SUGGESTIONS

These books are recommended to encourage you to read to and with children about the themes from the movie.

“Now One Foot, Now the Other”
by Tomie De Paola (about compassion)

“It’s Up to You, Griffin”
by Susan T. Pickford and Mary Dunn Ramsey
(About responsibility)

“The Little Engine that Could”
by Watty Piper (about perseverance)

“The Hare and the Tortoise”
by Carol Jones (about perseverance)

“Freight Train”
Written and illustrated by Donald Crewes
(About the world of trains.)