The Busy Little Engine

The Busy Little Engine is a 2005 children's DVD written and directed by Desmond Mullen. It was selected for the 2006 San Diego International Children's Film Festival and reviewed in the professional library journals Booklist, School Library Journal, and Video Librarian.The Busy Little Engine was picked Best DVD by Parenting Magazine in July 2006.

Plot

The preschool-age DVD tells the story of a wooden toy train who pretends to be a real train. The main character, Busy Little Engine, appears alternately as a wooden toy train in a playroom and as a full-scale-size train in real-world backgrounds. With its intentionally gentle pacing and static camera work, it has been called "a young child's picture book come-to-life".

Busy Little Engine pretends to be a real train but does not actually know what real trains do. This presents a problem which is soon solved with the help of Busy Little Engine's puppet friend, Pig, and the off-screen narrator.

Through the course of the show, Busy Little Engine and Pig explore the everyday world using role-playing and imagination. Viewers learn about tangible topics such as raw goods, finished materials and basic railroad operations along with esoteric topics such as pretending, taking turns, and learning from others.