Bus! Stop!

A boy wearing a green backpack just misses his bus ("Bus! Stop!" he yells). He may initially regret missing his ride, but doing so yields some trippy results. On the next double-page spread, multicolored triangle-shaped creatures begin gathering at the bus stop, and a long vehicle on four tall, slender legs comes into view. "THAT is NOT my bus," says the boy. Next, cowhands board a long covered wagon; sailors board an ocean liner; round floating creatures board a sort of bouncy house on wheels. Finally a spaceship-like carrier, held up by balloons and filled with humans, animals, and affable alien creatures, arrives, and the boy decides this is the perfect bus for him. He flies with the passengers through the night sky with its multiple celestial objects, the story coming full-circle in the end when a girl at a bus stop high in the sky yells for the boy's bus to stop. Yang doesn't move readers to this new location until the very end of the tale; all the rest of the action takes place at the same bus stop, the players entering and exiting as if on stage. With muted colors for the city buildings in the background, he draws readers' eyes to the action on the street with stylized characters and the captivating, increasingly outlandish vehicles. The boy's speech-balloon dialogue is simple, often with words in all caps ("This does not even LOOK like a bus!"), making this just the right ride for both prereaders and emerging readers. julie Danielson