Locomotive by Brian Floca (2013)

Locomotive is about the importance of the railroad in the development of America - how crews from both coasts built the railroad to meet in the middle and how the steam engine powered the trains that rode cross-country on the rails. My friend in Montana lives close to a rail line, so I got a bit of sense what it entails to get a train across a mountain. The story-line is about a mother and two children taking the train from Omaha, NE to Sacramento, CA to meet up with their husband/father.

This is the 2014 Caldecott winner. Now this one I can understand. Lots of good information, detailed illustrations, story-line woven in between facts, map, cross section of elevation, diagram of a steam engine and more.