I’M YOUR BUS

A cheery yellow school bus, grille grinning from headlight to headlight, introduces itself to the children it carries from home to school and back again in rhythmic, three-line stanzas: “Watch those backpacks coming through. / Have fun today. Learn something new. / Later I’ll come back for you.” Like any good bus, it works to remember the children’s names, punctuating its narration with personal greetings and goodbyes. The verse form is just right for eager preschoolers to latch onto, and Polenghi’s digital illustrations feature busy, colorful scenes with heavy, black outlines, the titular bus dominating every composition. As a first-day-of-school reassurance for newly minted kindergartners, for whom the school bus is an often anxiety-producing rite of passage, this one’s top-notch. (Picture book. 4-6)