Gus Hearts the Bus

K-Gr 3–A young boy’s first bus ride with his parents (who all have dark hair and tan skin) and baby sister in his hometown turns into the most amazing experience of his life. The variety of seats, the noises of the door opening and closing, and the driver’s hand-over-hand turns fascinate Gus and he becomes obsessed with studying bus routes and creating imaginary bus routes on the rug in his room. He reads books about buses and his classmates quiz him as he shares all his bus knowledge at school. Ultimately, his parents share that he’ll get to take the bus to New York City and all his studying pays off when he’s able to help them navigate to their destination of the New York Public Library. The soft illustrations capture both Gus’s joy as well as the diversity and grandeur of the big city, while the simple text and relatable second-person refrain, “Do you know the feeling?” will help readers relate to Gus’s new passion and perhaps inspire them to dive deeper into their own.