THE WHEELS OF THE BUS GO ROUND AND ROUND: School Bus Songs and Chants

Yes, Larrick does include the school bus song -- ""99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall"" -- but mainly this is a mishmash of familiar folk songs (""You Can't Get to Heaven,"" ""It Takes a Worried Man""), skip rope rhymes not acknowledged as such (even during all the entrances and exits of that doctor, nurse, and ""lady with the big fat purse""), variations of the ""roses are red"" rhyme that we know as autograph book entries, and even a dance (""Here We Go Looby-loo""). Misleadingly subtitled, with no real theme or any orienting background notes, this is neither a sourcebook of oral literature nor a boost for the busing image. The accompanying piano (on a bus?) arrangements and Holtan's frenetic sketches (of hippos in bathtubs, sharks at table, and all sorts of creatures in overstuffed busses) are equally beside the commutation point -- though hard up Brownie leaders and rainy day lunchroom mothers might capitalize on the familiarity of the selections.