Little Yellow Bus

May 15, 2022
A school bus is nervous for his first day of school. Yellow's wipers swish anxiously from side to side. Today is the very first time that Yellow will ever transport kids, but he's not sure if he's ready. He tries to stall by telling his parents that his tires feel a little low and his oil is a little stale. They reassure him that everything is in working order. But even more worries abound. What if a herd of elephants come charging toward him? What if he gets lost? What if the kids choose another bus over him? "The world can be scary sometimes, but more often it can be wonderful," his mother reassures him. "What if something really good happens today?" Slowly, by taking one step at a time (starting his engine first), Yellow rolls onto the road, ready for school. There are no eyes perched comically on this protagonist; instead, Yellow's mood is conveyed through subtle art decisions: wiper placement, a grill that seems to smile, and general stature. Mirroring children's own first-day worries, Guendelsberger flips the point of view to a familiar back-to-school mainstay. This one will pair very well with Adam Rex's School's First Day of School (illustrated by Christian Robinson, 2016). The students are a diverse crowd. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Cleverly relatable. (Picture book. 4-8)

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August 1, 2022
Guendelsberger follows Little Red Sleigh with another colorful mode of transportation in this slow-moving tale of a novice school bus. Though Yellow has trained hard for his solo voyage, on the first day of school, “his belly ached./ His wheels felt out of balance.” In a series of earnest exchanges with his reassuring parents, Yellow engages in tactics to put off departure (“My tires feel low on air”), then imagines nightmare scenarios (“The children were going to be late, and it was all his fault!”). Though images of Yellow and his parents—shown with opaque windows that make them appear driverless—lack the visual anthropomorphization that the lengthy text suggests, Mason’s sunny digital artwork depicts a bucolic, apparently suburban neighborhood with lush green trees, ample lawns, and a human cast of varied abilities and skin tones. Ages 4–7.