The Yellow Bus

Mentioned by dkzody in a comment, after I'd read about it in the NYTimes Book Review, I took myself to Barnes and Noble and bought The Yellow Bus.

It's much better than Shel Silverstein's much lauded (and by me, much loathed) The Giving Tree.  The nasty boy turned to man just abuses and abuses that tree, and the tree just waits there and feels grateful to be helpful, even as there is less and less to give.  The protagonist never changes.  He just takes and takes.  My synopsis has always been hurt me, hurt me again, I'll be here the next time, too.

Ugh. 

 Loren Long has a different take on the whole altruism thing.  

Inspired by an abandoned school bus he passed while walking with his dog, Long imagined the history the bus must have lived.  He thought about the town in which it lived.  And then, with milk cartons and xacto knives and paper mache, he built a 10' model of the community he'd go on to draw in the book. 

His sons told him he was crazy.  Reading about the creation tells a different story, though.

Building it and painting it and then sketching it and painting the illustrations from it was, the NYTimes says , “the most fun I’ve had practically since junior high school.” 

It brought him joy.  

And for that yellow bus, all the changes and all the uses end the same way - by bringing joy.

It's a simple story with captivating images.  The verbiage is calmly repetitive. The town is drawn in shades of black and grey; the bus and those who use it are colorful and different and very interesting. It drew in the English language learners and two kindergarten classrooms; they were enchanted by the whole thing.

Joy is everywhere, I told them once, I realized that they might not have heard the word.  We practiced joy by making big...no, bigger...no, bigger smiles, by being the happiest we've ever been.

The Giving Tree leaves me feeling melancholy.  The Yellow Bus fills me with joy.

*****

I may have overstepped just a wee bit when I mentioned that they might have heard the word joy on tv.  I might have said that if they did, it might make them break out a big smile.  I might have said it didn't matter who said it.  Looking out at the multi-racial faces in front of me in each of the 3 rooms I've visited so far, it's possible that I said She might look like you.... or you..... or you....or He might be old, and look like me.... but it's still joy.

Just a little subversive, but also cluing them in to what's going on around them, which is not a bad thing if they are introduced to it through joy.  

If I'm asked, that's what I'll tell them.  

I probably won't mention that it brought me joy.