The Cable Car and the Dragon

by Herb Caen

Book Overview

This is the rollicking tale of the adventures of Charlie, the youngest cable car. Only sixty years old, he is tired of the same old rut. One night as he's puffing himself up Nob Hill, he hears a lot... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 087701390X
• Release Date: March 1986
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 0.5" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Fun for children and adults....

You don't have to be from San Fran to love this little story, although I am sure that it helps. The plot follows Charlie the cable car as he and a favorite passenger (the narrator, who is Caen himself, of course) leave the cable car routes and decide to explore their hometown of San Francisco, coming into contact with Chu, a Chinese New Year's dragon. Caen's legendary wit is surprisingly well-suited to this kind of writing; I loved his personification of the young cable car (he compares Charlie's voice to "a piece of wood being rubbed across steel"). Byfield's watercolors help tell the story (making the book a good mixture of visuals and text) but are also pleasures in and of themselves. The story does not have a very specific and blunt point for children to take away (which is fine with me). That said, it does imply that thinking out of the box (or off the trolley routes) is good and that making friends with people from other cultures is beneficial. Kind of appropriate for San Francisco when you think about it.