Too Much Speed! Not So Fast, Bash and Dash! by Rev. W. Audry

THIS IS BASH.

THIS IS DASH.

Bash and Dash are two small and new steam engines. You can tell by their names that they are all about SPEED! Every trip is a race!

Actually, Dash and Bash only like one speed--full speed ahead. They careen around the tracks, ignoring warning signs, not slowing down at junctions or watching for loaded crates swinging from cranes about their cab. There's a near miss at the crossroads, where logs from the log car tumble toward Dash!

WHO CAN STOP THEM?

Thomas tries to override their runs, but Dash and Bash barely miss the beeping bus crossing the rails. The two young engines turn and twist down the tracks without braking, trying to beat each other. They zip. They zoom. They don't observe the signs.

Watch out for that traffic jam! Oh, dear!

WHEW!

That near collision at the crossing seems to have take the steam out of Dash and Bash at last, in Rev. W. Audry's Not So Fast, Bash and Dash! (Thomas & Friends) (Step into Reading) (Random House). Poor Thomas is run ragged all over Sodor, trying to oversee and train these young engines to exercise proper speeds and caution, and perhaps they have learned their lesson, as the wise Thomas keeps the youngsters rolling down the rails in this introduction to two new engines in the Thomas and Friends series, which appropriately is set for the youngest beginning readers just revving up their reading engines.