The Bus Is for Us

Toddler-K—In this spare, rhyming text, many children present favorite forms of transportation from the traditional to fantastical—but nothing can top their bus! The opening endpapers show a cheerful, empty double-decker bus approaching in a sunny, colorful landscape, while the back endpapers show the bus full of kids headed off into the moonlit night. The inside is divided into four sections, each of which culminates in a celebratory chant as the bus stops to pick up the children from the previous pages: "But the best is the bus. The bus is for us." The first section singles out everyday forms of transport: "I really like to ride my bike… When it starts to rain/I like the train." As the book goes along the featured rides get more imaginative: "Fly to the moon/in a hot-air balloon. Or, for a dare,/ride on a bear." The watercolor illustrations, done in pastel colors with round lines and swirly, dreamlike backgrounds, keep the scenes soft and inviting.