The Little School Bus - Hardcover

Roth, Carol

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0735816468 ISBN 13: 9780735816466

Publisher: North-South Books, 2002

Synopsis

Youngsters are invited to read along with a catchy, repetitive story that follows a parade of young animals as they board their bus for school and then ride it home again at the end of the day.

About this title

About the Author

Carol Roth, a former kindergarten teacher, lives in New City, New York, and writes full time. Her books include Little Bunny's Sleepless Night and Ten Dirty Pigs/Ten Clean Pigs.

Pamela Paparone lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her previous books include a collaboration with Carol Roth, Ten Dirty Pigs/Ten Clean Pigs, as well as Five Little Ducks and Ten Dogs in the Window.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 1-With a frog as the driver, a variety of animals trickles onto a school bus. First, "a little goat/wearing his new winter coat" appears; then, "A pig in a wig" gets on, and others follow until, finally, "a sleepy sheep" climbs aboard. At the end of the day, they return in reverse order for the ride home. Paparone's colorful, detailed illustrations, a bit murky in places, are laid out on double-page spreads, providing lots for little ones to marvel at, both on the bus and off. The vehicle weaves through suburban neighborhoods and into the city as animal residents carry out their daily chores. Children will shout out the identity of the animals as the rhyming text describes them, and then happily chime in on the repetitious refrain after each animal climbs onboard: "riding the bus to school, to school,/riding the bus to school." Great for preschool storytime, a back-to-school read-aloud, or just a fun story about animals.
Wanda Meyers-Hines, Ridgecrest Elementary School, Huntsville, AL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

For the team behind Ten Dirty Pigs, Ten Clean Pigs, a bright yellow school bus becomes the perfect vehicle for a catchy cumulative rhyme and a quirky cast of animal characters. With a natty green-scaled fellow behind the wheel, the bus travels through the rolling countryside and into the bustling, candy-colored town, picking up passengers who eventually include "a squirmy worm, a hairy bear, a quick, quick chick, a fox with socks, a pig in a wig, a goat in a coat, riding the bus to school, to school, riding the bus to school." Roth's singsong rhymes and refrain bounce with the rhythm of the ride and bring to mind a timeless schoolyard chant. Paparone adds comic spice to her radiant, illustrations with witty details that convey various subplots of her own: on the bus, the bespectacled chick works on a laptop while the rapscallion fox vamps in the wig he's pinched from the sleeping, glamour-puss pig; in the city, a cat works as a fishmonger and a bug zooms by the bus on a scooter. The classroom scene sets in motion the pairings to come on the ride home. Thanks to this well-matched duo, this is buoyant fun from pickup to drop-off. Ages 3-6.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 2-4, younger for reading aloud. In a bouncy cumulative chant just made for reading aloud, a school bus with a uniformed lizard at the wheel picks up seven riders, including a "goat in his coat," a "quick, quick chick," and a "sleepy sheep," delivers them to school, and then later brings them home. Paparone's bright, sprightly illustrations feature plenty of cheery mugging out the windows and other amusing side business as the bus runs its daily route from suburbs to city and back. Children will immediately start chiming along at this irresistible invitation to "step right up and take a seat, / and ride the bus to school, to school, / and ride the bus to school." Even without the bells and whistles of Paul Zelinsky's pop-up classic, Wheels on the Bus (1990), this will take children on a verbal and visual ride that they'll want to repeat as often as possible. John Peters
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: North-South Books
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0735816468
• ISBN 13: 9780735816466
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Paparone Pamela
• Number of pages: 32