Katy Caboose spends all her time trailing behind the rest of the train cars, chugging through the countryside, always looking behind her. Katy is sad to always be moving and only stopping in crowded rail yards. She wishes she could trade places with a little cabin in the woods. One night Katy talks to a switchman's shack perched high on a pole. The shack envies Katy's many travels along the railroad tracks, and finally Katy begins to appreciate her role as a caboose. Then a coupling breaks and Katy gets loose. She finally gets to spend time off the rails in nature and is finally happy. Katy's story unfolds in rhyming text with varied vocabulary and complex sentence structures. Katy, the cabin, and the shack are personified through subtle but effective eyes in their windows. The bright illustrations are cheery and simple. Young readers can follow along with the story by reading the book as they listen to the CD with and without page-turn signals. Music and sound effects add to the energy of the recording