BUS STOP, BUS GO!

A hamster stages a cage-break on a school bus in this simple yet enjoyable piece of poetry, where the verse rolls along like the wheels on the bus, imparting a sweet momentum to the story. Tommy and his hamster, Hammy, board the bus and enter its busy world. Word bubbles capture the swarm of conversations that a school bus holds: “ ‘Lets see the cards you wanna trade.’ ‘Watch it, Kate, you pulled my braid!’ ‘My science homework’s almost done.’ ‘Boy that hamster sure can run!’ ” Back and forth the hamster tools about the bus, causing a commotion: “ ‘Darn, you almost had him Jack!’ ‘Hey, you kids, sit down in back,’ ” yodels the driver. Finally, Hammy is cornered and caged, just in time to get off the bus at school. The cheering rhythms have a warm camaraderie with the art, which has the clarity of a cutout, the rich tactility of construction paper, details galore, and every so often, in keeping with the rhyme scheme, a page devoted solely to the words, “Bus stop, bus go!” caught in electric color on a black ground. (Picture book. 3-7)