A Bus Called Heaven

Bob Graham, as I'm sure I've mentioned to anyone who has let me speak for even a moment about picture books, is awesome. This story is about a little girl who decides to transform a broken down hippie bus into a fun community center. The whole neighborhood comes together to create a fun, usable space for everyone to enjoy. What's nice about Graham is that he presents urban life honestly, showing the grit and grime of the city, and includes different races and cultures all living together. In the very first picture I'm looking at some people in yarmulkes, a priest, a man in a turban, a tattooed biker, and kids of all different ethnicities hanging out. It's amazing. As a city dweller I really appreciate kids books that paint a positive, show more accurate picture of what it means to live in an urban area. show less

Aww.... Implausible as written, but a good fairy tale for all ages... and plausible if you imagine all the left out details. Anyway, it's a Bob Graham, and I always feel my heart growing stronger and warmer when I read his books. The queen should knight him.

Audience:1-5th grade
This was an interesting book about community and unity. The community members get together and reclaim and old and abandoned bus. I liked the book because it had multiple levels and themes throughout the book. The most common one that younger students can identify with is that when everyone works together a situation can be improved. Older kids can relate to the bus being used a s a metaphor for heaven on earth. If different types of people all over the world get along then we can create a heaven on earth with peace and friendship. I also wondered why Stella was the only one who was colorless. Is there another underlying story to that? Anyway a great book to share with children of all ages.

This is another Bob Graham book that give you all the feels. Who could have thought that a broken-down bus could bring so many people together? A little girl named Stella saw so much potential in that rundown bus. It was a happy place for people to go when they needed a little refuge away from everyday life. When the bus was almost taken from the neighborhood, they came together to make sure they didn't lose their happy place. I guess that's why it was called heaven since it was like a little piece of heaven on earth.

In this piece I want to give you a few reasons why I did and did not like this book. First, the plot of the story was well developed. The storyline focused on a community coming together and working hard to first create and then preserve something they love. This was shown in them fixing up the bus and fighting the towing company for it back. Another part of this book that I enjoyed were the characters. Specifically, the young girl or main character. We were allowed to see her emotions and how important family was to her. I also liked how multicultural the characters were. Now, the main reason I didn’t full enjoy the book were because of the illustrations. The illustrations were quality, but the size of them were hard to see and I show more think that could pose a problem for young children. Overall, I think the main message of the story was about perseverance and working together with your peers towards a common goal. show less

In my opinion, this is a wonderful book. I think that there are various messages and themes present throughout the book, and each one is relatable. Bob Graham, the author, employed very descriptive language throughout the book and I felt like it allowed the reader to gain insight into the mood and feelings of the story. The text contained analogies that helped demonstrate the moods. At one point, after the bus was being taken because it apparently had broken laws/regulations, the tow-truck driver read the law that was broken and the language used seemed to be very dated. He said, “Thou shall not park on footpath.” In my opinion, I think that by using such dated language the author was implying how old-fashioned some rules might be, show more or something along those lines. When I hear or read the word “thou” today, I think of Shakespearean-like times and our language has definitely transformed since then.
I really liked the illustrations throughout this book, too. I thought they fit the written text appropriately and effectively demonstrated the different cultural and ethnic components of the community. I also think there were some hidden messages or metaphors present in the illustrations. For example, when the tow truck came to take the bus away the flames were very prominent and bold. To me, they represented the flames of hell and hell and heaven are in a constant battle. But, good always prevails and that occurred in this book.
The characters were also well-developed and relatable because they encompassed various cultures present in our society. This book encourages readers to put aside their differences and come together. It also demonstrates how important it can be to have strength and be persistent when trying to achieve something—which is definitely applicable. Stella had set her mind to making the bus “ours,” and her determination enabled her to stick by the bus, rather then simply giving up.
The big idea present throughout this story is how rewarding it can be to come together, as a community, despite anyone’s differences in order to facilitate positive interactions for each and ever person. By doing this, the bus became a safe-haven to each person in whatever way they wanted. show less

I had mixed feelings about this book after reading it. I liked the book because of the message I took from it. The descriptive language that was used in the book helped me to come up with what I thought was the big idea. The story described the bus as being sad, “Old bus, sad as can be”, but as the story went on the community got together and fixed the bus up. The bus was used for something different by everyone who made use of it. So though the story depicted the bus as being old my big idea of the story is someone’s trash is another person’s treasure. I also liked the writing of the story. The story flowed and was well paced. From the bus coming to be in the yard, being towed away, and then being pushed by the community to its show more permanent home gave sequential movement of the bus from the start of the story to the end. This made the story line easy to follow. What I didn't like about the story is, even though you are left up to your own interpretation, the title lead me to believe that somehow this bus would have some heavenly implications such as the bus going to heaven, but in reality the bus became a heaven to some people; hence the title A Bus Called Heaven. show less