Buses Books

We first saw this book in a kindermusik class this previous winter, and my two-year-old son seemed to enjoy when it was read aloud. We decided to order the book to help our son get into the habit of bedtime stories. Now this is his number one favorite book to have read at bedtime. Our son loves being able to interact with the lyrics as we sing. The book is very durable and has held up well to a lot of abuse. I couldn't recommend this book more.

My grandchild has known the "wheels on the bus" song since she was a baby. Now 2 1/2 I bought her this book because of that and because I know Paul Zelinsky's work. She absolutely loves it. It is clever and interactive, colorful and wonderful and fun.

This is a most beautifully illustrated book. It turns a song that can become boring for adults after singing it 100 times into a beuatiful story about a dog chasing a bus, a lost kitten, crying babies, soothing mothers, and wheels that literally turn round and round. There are hidden stories within the story. A wonderful investment for a child's library.

OUr 2.5 son received this for Christmas, we have read it several times each day since. He loves the moving parts!!

My 22 month old, loves this book. He actually is obsessed with it, demanding "BUS" several times a day. He laughs hysterically at the interactive driver saying 'move on back, move on back" and finds it exciting to spin the wheels on the bus.

This version is closer to the CD of Raffi songs that my kids listen to.
The pictures are excellent -it's easy to make up new stories to go along with the original text.

I read all the reviews before I ordered this book and it sounded great. However, when I first took it out of the box I thought I must have ordered the wrong book - could this little book be the one everyone on Amazon raved about? The answer is - YES! My 14 month old son loves it when we read (correction: sing) this book to him and asks us to do so over and over. The illustrations are full of little details that he loves to study and point out: apples rolling on the floor of the bus, dog licking the driver's face, etc. A wonderful little book!

I bought this book based on the other reviews I read and they were right. My (almost) 2 year old girl loves this book and asks for it to be read over and over at bedtime. Definitley her favorite book so far!
Highly recommend it.

book and the song that accomanies it. Even though my kids have gotten a bit older we still have fond memories of the book. We even sing the song to other children we meet!
Thank you, [...]

This is a fun book to read and act out. We sing the song, bounce with the bus, tell everyone to move on back with the driver, etc. The book is very little, which makes it good for carrying around but a little harder to see the details of the pictures.

This is an awesome book. It is filled with down to earth talking mixed with bibicial scriptures to back it up. She breaks down the bible in a way that I have never thought of.

I just started a book club and this was our first read. What a start. This book really made me look at my singlehood and embrace it until God is ready to bring that help mate into your life. I recommend it for ever near or at that 30-something, single stage of their lives.

This book is a definite must for all females young and old. I was truly touched and changed in all sorts of ways. A patient of mine gave me this book to read and I bought another one and gave it to a woman that considered herself my enemy because I have the man she wanted. I love how she takes us through the scripture and shows us how God wants to mold and shape us as the unique and beautiful queens that we are. One thing that stuck out to me "There is no dating in the bible" Brings you back to the scripture: Train up a child in the way that he/she should go" most of us can't get a mate because we don't have the knowledge of what relationship is about other than being apart of your own immediate family. You got to bring some to get some.

Thank you Michelle for your guide to godliness.

I am a 24 year old single woman and I am just beginning to feel the woes of singleness. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to find someone you can really talk to. Everything I needed was in this book. If you want to be content in singleness, and if you want to be the complete individual that God intends for you to be, get this book. Michelle has great biblical and spiritual insight. She doesn't just talk about her experiences or what she thinks, she comes from the Word and writes according to divine revelation from God.

I had just departed from a 5 yr relationship when I read this.
It set my feet on a higher spiritual plateau. The title of the book was deceiving (as most of her titles) and had me thinking I was on my way to my next relationship. However, it set my sights on not just the right man, but THE MAN, the Lord!
It was refreshing, empowering and encouraging. Despite the fact that Mckinney has never been married do not let that discourage you. She comes from the only knowledge that matters and that is the WORD. Everyone has not been destined to get/be married; also, who else to minister to someone except the one who is in the same season with you...what an encouragement. Its such a catch 22 - to always hear women bemoan their singlehood and not having a mate but they have not excelled in the principle things (that is delighting themselves in the Lord and learning to please Him.)
What an embarrassment to God for women/men to continuously pursue a thing so much that we forget about all He has blessed us with and who He is and the provisions He made and the great love He has for us to send Jesus to die for us.
Its like saying "Lord, you are not enough, you haven't done enough" and throwing a temper tantrum...ok, off my soapbox - sorry.
Back to the book, it helped me to fall more deeply and more intimately in love with the Lord. Another book that helped me with this is McKinney's book - The Secrets of an Irresistible Woman A MUST READ.

My 22 month old son is fascinated with buses. This is a great book for toddlers who love interaction. Not only is this book about a bus but the bus is full of animals. We read this book to our son at least 5 times a day and it never gets old.

I'm a preschool teacher, and my 3-5 year olds loved this book!
It's one they ask for over and over again.

This is such a funny little book. My 3 year old loves to sing along while I read this book to him. It makes me laugh every time I read it to him. It's high quality for a paper back. Fantastic addition to my collection.

I started reading to my son Owen when he was just a few months old, and this charming book was one of the first ones he reacted to. Now at 19 months, it's still his favorite. Colorful pictures, repetitive text, and the opportunity to use puppet-style hand gestures while you read make this a great interactive story for very young children. This book has earned its place, at least on our bookshelf, alongside classics like Bill Martin/Eric Carle's "Brown Bear, Brown Bear..."

Long before illustrator G. Brian Karas captured the world's attention with his not-particularly-groundbreaking-but-still-interesting, "Muncha Muncha Muncha" he helped author Lenny Hort create a sweet little selection entitled, "The Seals On the Bus". Taking silliness to a whole new level, "Seals" replaces those tired old standby lines found in the song, "The Wheels On the Bus" and replaces them with a convoluted carnival of copious critters. It's silly, frenetic, and thoroughly enjoyable to the kiddies.

A small family of four wait patiently at a bus stop. The kids are unencumbered and their parents read their book and newspaper respectively. Once on the bus, however, everything goes higgledy-piggledy. First some seals come on board (accompanied by the text, "The seals on the bus go errp, errp, errp"). I've always thought that seals were prone to more arfing than errping, but that's just me I guess. Suddenly the seals' boisterous errps make the driver more than a little angry. The driver, to the surprise of his human passengers, is actually a tiger. So the text says, "The tiger on the bus goes roar, roar, roar". This is where things start picking up. Geese jump aboard the bus, with the appropriate geese sounds in tow. Next come rabbits. Then monkeys, then vipers, then sheep. In a way, it's the final skunks that push the grownups completely off the deep end. Fortunately, at this point the bus as ended at a fabulous party and the kids are more than happy to join in the fun.

Lenny Hort is the official author of this tale, and it's a funny enough concept I'll grant you. Still, it's Karas who brings the entire enterprise to full glorious life. I wasn't a particular fan of his work on "Muncha Muncha Muncha", I'll admit. Maybe that was because he didn't include any seals. Cause let's face it, the man is an excellent seal-artist. The book itself has a kind of faux sloppiness to it. At first, it looks like the pictures were just randomly brought together. But on closer inspection it's clear that Karas uses his gouache, acrylics, pencils and cut paper to the best of his ability. I was particularly interested in how the buildings and reading materials in this story were created out of real honest-to-goodness newsprint. Partly these amused me because Karas would carefully smudge important names on that newsprint. Partly they amused me because they were often ads of boring grown-up business/stock information (apropos when using that same material to create houses and buildings). As for the characters themselves, Karas is far better at drawing animals than people. In "Muncha" this was a problem. Here, it's an advantage. You may notice the family from time to time, but the real heroes of this tale are the myriad of different animals filling each and every page. And great seals. Great great seals.

All in all, "The Seals On the Bus" takes an old song, modernizes it with silly and ridiculous images, and has a great time doing it. Consequently, your kids will have a ball reading it. And if you happen to be the kind of adult that can repeat the words, "Errp, errp, errp", over and over with the right amount of aplomb and humor, this will become your children's favorite bedtime story of the year. Definitely consider checking it out.

This was a great story. It was fun reading it to my kids in CA, after living most of my life in Malden MA. We loved the part about Filene's Basement (and I'm sad won't get to take them to see the real thing because it will be gone in the summer of '07) and shopping at all of the markets in the North End. It was amazing how many of my stories as a kid came out of reading that one book.

This book is just terrific. I grew up in Somerville, MA and took the bus and train into Boston very often. It brought back so many memories of growing up. I used to go to Filene's Basement all the time with my mother, as well as, Bailey's, Haymarket, etc. My son just loves the book, almost as much as me.

The author relives fond childhood memories of travelling into Boston with her mother and sister to visit Boston's Italian North End, riding the bus and visiting Filene's Basement, an ice cream shop, produce market, butcher and baker. especially fun for kids familiar with Boston, this book would also be of interest to those who ride the bus, like shopping or hold an interest in Italy.

This book is great. We live in Seattle and are going back to Boston for a visit. My 3 year old son wants to go on a bus like the 2 girls in the book. He is so excited to come back to Boston for his 10th time. We read the book every night before bed. Great photos.

I felt like I was reliving my childhood! I grew up in Boston and remember the excitement of having special days in town with my mother. We would end our wonderful day by stopping by Bailey's for a sundae. She would recall her special days with her mother and doing the same things that we did!

I bought this book for my son after seeing it in the library. I have a used board book version, which is in FANTASTIC condition. I find this book is EXTREMELY durable, and would recommend getting a used one if this is for your own child.

My son was ONE when we purchased it, and loved it enough to ask for it every day for several months. Now he's almost 2.5, it was at the bottom of the pile for awhile, but now he loves it all over again. WE both love the colorful pictures, and there are cute things to look for, things that you may not notice the first few times you go through it. LIke the driver in one car has a somewhat angry expression, like he wants to run over the lady that is crossing the street. I think it's funny, it's not obvious and cruel, just something that as a grown up, you may notice, that flies over the child's head. Or like, on the hospital page, the patients are Green... get it? green, sick? Too cute! ANd one guy is wrapped up in bandages like a mummy from head to toe. Each page has things it asks you to point out. But you can easily find more things for the child to notice. My son just loves it. I think it is especially appealling to kids that like cars, trucks and busses. But girls will like it too... it's not full of those things, but there are enough of them in there. It is so colorful, and it's fun to ask the child to find an orange car, or a yellow house. There's even a little kitty cat wandering in the crowd on the marketplace page.

This is a very sweet book for a child... I'd say from One - Four years old, but I have no doubt mine love it enough to thumb through it himself when he's older, or maybe it will be a book he learns to read from. Great overall, I'd say one of our top 10 books! It's my favorite book in the "it doesn't have a deep message, and doesn't rhyme" category.

We have many Taro Gomi books, in both English and Japanese. His graphics are always amazing, and this gem is at the top of the list. The English translation here is great (as opposed to the dreadful "Where's the Fish?"), and my child loves the story of the bus as is winds through town. Especially nice is the touch near the end, where WE get off the bus at our house, placing the child into the story, then the driver gets off the bus at the end. Cute and snappy, a work of art that will engage child and parent alike.

My daughter has loved this book since she was a year old. At 2.5 years she still loves seeing where the bus goes on its route, who gets off, who misses the bus...She loves to answer the simple questions on each page. (Parents can always ask different questions when they get bored). The text and pictures are just right for the pre-speaking to pre-school age child. There is something on every page to captivate even the youngest child yet, there are so many interesting little details that older children remain interested. And for parents, get this, the bus stops at a movie set and who's in the director's chair but Akira Kurosawa with his white hat and sunglasses. Oh and who's that bearded actor? Toshiro Mifune. No kidding. This book is THAT cool.

My 20-month old loves this book, and with good reason. It's a fantastic example of a book that can grow with a toddler; at first he was most interested in the buses, then started noticing the cars, moved onto the trees, and now loves all the little people. It's a sweet book, gentle in tone. My toddler will spend 15 minutes at a time reading this one with me.

I frequently give this book as a baby gift, and get reports back that it always becomes the baby's top favorite book, the one they want to read everyday over and over - and since it's mostly a visual book that lets the child explore objects and places, and has art-quality illustrations, parents enjoy it too. Taro Gomi's books don't aggressively teach, but just let a small child wander slowly and curiously through the pages, noticing things of interest, always discovering new details.

My oldest son got this book from Grandma and Grandpa when he was about 2 and he loved it....to pieces. We read it over and over, singing the song, working the pullouts until the wheels on the bus are gone, the mommies and babies on the bus are gone, the wipers on the bus are gone, virtually every page has major damage and even the binding is falling apart.

Yet oddly, as the book has gotten worse-looking it has lost none of its appeal. It became a game to my son to make up new silly words to the "wheels on the bus" song reflecting the damage..."the wipers on the bus have been ripped out..." and laugh and sing. Now the youngest is getting into the act.

May suffer from the love it gets, but worth every penny. I'm going to get a copy for my nephew and another fresh one for our youngest son to love to pieces...

I know it says 4 and up,but this is my 29m olds fave song so I bought it.

He is too aggressive with the moving areas so I put it up for now-but it is well worth the money! It is very cute and adoreable!

I bought this book at a thrift shop. My daughter loves it, and when I left her a few minutes ago she was moving the baby's arms singing "wah, wah, wah" (the baby on the bus goes wah wah wah...)

She tore out the mother on the bus, so I am keeping the book up high except to read.

It's a great gift book. The pages are sturdy.

We just bought this book last week and my 12-month-old absolutely ADORES it!! She likes pretty much all books, but this is the first one that's made her laugh hysterically & dance along from the very first time we read it. She can't get enough of it, so much so that she keeps demanding we read it to her again, even after 5 or 6 times in a row (after which we hide the book!) It's great because you can play the song & then sing along at the same time, all the while moving the cute characters inside. What a fantastic idea! Don't pass this book up...

This is such a great activity book. My 20-month old got it for Christmas, along with a bunch of toys... yet THIS has been his favorite. He LOVES singing along, doing the motions, and has to have the book with him ALL the time - even a 4.5 hour car trip (made us a little crazy... but we still LOVE that he opts for this book over a toy of some sort.)

I love this book and my kids love it. It's a fun book to read.

I really liked this book. The bus took the kids on a wild and crazy ride. I like how it swallows them up and spits them out at school. My mom and I love the picture where the teacher is hanging on for dear life. Cool book!

At a friends house, I just read this (four times) to my soon to be five year old daugther. She wanted more (so now I'm ordering it).

Kids love big vehicles (I think because kids have an innate fascination with big animals) so riding a school bus as being swallowed by a dinosaur (which then coughs them up when they get to school) is just perfect.

What I (and I think my daughter) loved most about this was the verse. The story is told in the first person from a boy riding the bus-o-saurus to school. The meter is that of Edger Allen Poe's "The Bells", one of my favorite poems.

This fun, energetic, quirky book was a great birthday gift for my 5-year-old stepson. The terrific upbeat rhythm and fun illustrations will make it a favorite in our home library.

This is what read-aloud is all about!
Starting off with a jazzy, snappy rhythm

Early in the mornin'
when the sun is done a snorin'
the boppin bus-a-saurus
comes a-rippin' and a roarin.'

that continues to the very end

. . he burps us out reversed
with the Tardees going first
and the rest of us in spurts
around the town.

This bouncy bus-a-saurus
had my pre-schoolers boppin' to the beat!
And the zany pictures with the kids bouncing
on the tongue are hilarious! We've gotton a lot of mileage out of this bus!

I am an avid American bus fan and model bus collector and have almost every book written on American buses from the last 10-15 years (since the 1990s), started off by the Iconografix series of "photo archives" that a great man in the bus industry and bus enthusiast circles, Mr. William "Bill" Luke started.

I want to say that this GMC New Look book is definitely a must have for any transit bus fan. Its is by far the most accurate and complete history of the most famous and prolific American transit bus ever. I believe even today, 2008, when most people think of a transit bus, this funny looking bus, nicknamed the "fishbowl" for its windshield shape, comes to mind. Mr. John McKane did an excellent job chronicling every stage of its development. The written history he gives is just as important as the fabulous picture. I appreciate the Iconografix "Enthusiast's Reference" series of books more than the "Photo archives" series of books for the reason that the former is more indepth and with more written word/history than the latter, which is mostly just pictures w/ small captions. Again, we lost a great bus fan author w/ the passing of Mr. McKane and I am glad if he was able to produce his "Opus" (i.e. this book) and past valuable information to generations of bus fans with this book.

This book is a highly interesting overview of the New Look "Fishbowl" bus that was so ubiquitous in American cities from the 60's until the early 90'. All four 'Generations' of the New Look bus are documented, along with sub-classes and unusual variations built for specific transit agencies. I never knew there was a steam-powered New Look, or one built with doors on both sides! The extra 25 pages in color are definitely a nice touch! The book also gives the reader a history of the New Look's predecessors, its competition (like the New-Look Mack!) as well as touching upon the RTS which spelled the demise of the American-built New Look version.

If anything, it would have been nice to know if any New Looks were built for export - like the way EMD had foreign versions of its locomotives. The only example documented in the book is demonstrator 001, which was later sold to Mexico. I also remember reading a number of years ago an article about a New Look that was modified and sold to an Israeli operator. And while I'm at it, perhaps there should have been mention of one city leasing New Looks to other cities. Washington's WMATA leased about 100 buses to the NYCTA during the withdrawal of all 800+ Grumman 870 buses in 1980.

In any case, this is a great book that will interest any bus fan, especially those interested in those fabulous Fishbowls.

This has quickly become my favorite bus book. The historical aspects of the development of the New Look bus and its place in North American transit history are fascinating to read, but just as fun are the various notes about spotting differences between each 'generation' during the coach's 27-year production run that appealed to the enthusiast in me. The authors also did a very nice job covering the various oddball New Looks built over the years such as the 30-foot shorties, the 60-foot articulated buses built for several Canadian operators and the single order of trolley buses built for Edmonton. The modernization of the New Look by GM-Canada into the 'Classic' in the 1980's is also covered and a brief history of this successor bus is also provided.

Photo reproduction is excellent throughout this book. It's not just a collection of three-quarter roster shots, either - photos are also included of buses in production, interior views, close-ups of details, etc. The volume concludes with 24 pages of color photos showing every generation of New Look buses from 1959 to 1986 and a few Classics to boot.

'Welcome Aboard the GM New Look Bus' was long, long overdue. I've read that John McKane originally wanted to do a full history of this bus when he wrote the original 'The General Motors New Look Bus Photo Archive' in 1999 but was unable to get it published at the time. It was clearly a labor of love for Mr. McKane and we are very fortunate that he was able to write this before his passing. I hope that others will be able to pick up where he left off and chronicle other North American bus models in a similar fashion.

A well researched high quality work on this important part of the American Transportation scene for 30 years. Now we need a companion volume on the Yellow/GM "old Look" buses.

This book has great photos as well as very interesting history of the New Look bus, the pictures are very well done, and do the subject good.
I would and do recommend this book very highly

My 2 year old loves this book! We've read it every day for weeks on end, taken a break for other books and come right back to it. She loves looking at the illustrations too.

My 2 year old is fascinated with school buses. He spots them on the road when we are out and about and so I got him this book. It was an instant hit. The illustrations are wonderful- very full of detail and he loves to name all the things in the pictures. The prose is a delight to read to him, almost like a little song. So cute! We both love it. I would prefer it to be in a board book format for his age, but he loves it nonetheless.

I teach elementary English as a Second Language students. This book is perfect for a read aloud. It has a lot of vocabulary and they can join in on the parts that repeat. We loved it!

I came across this book at a booksale. I fell in love with it the moment I layed eyes on it. The storyline is really adorable. It reminds me well of "The Napping House" by Audrey Wood. My 21 month old son is so excited to see this book. He always look forward for storytime. The illustrations are very bold and artistically done. Very colorful and lively. Kids of all ages will surely love this. This is a keepsake. I have a paperback copy and I'm getting a hardcover copy as a back-up in case it gets worn out of daily repeated readings.

This is a fantastic book! My sons (age 3) love it...from the sing-song rhyming text to the wonderfully detailed illustrations. They find something new in the pictures every time we read the book. The predictable text also lets them "read" the story to me. This book is a must for any home library!