A Bus Called Heaven by Bob Graham starts with a prologue:
Abandonded. The bus appeared one morning from a sea of traffic — right outside Stella’s house, where no bus should be.
Tired, old, and sick, it had a hand-painted sign on it, held down with packing tape.
The sign said, Heaven.
How many picture books have prologues? Not many, I’d guess. Not sure I’ve ever seen a written one.
And then the first line within the book is,
The bus brought change to Stella’s street.
Although stories are supposed to be about change, how many say so from the start?
It’s true. Stella, along with her parents and neighbors, claim the broken down bus. They transform the rust and the dirt and the brokenness into something wonderful. Something beautiful. They create a place of community, a place to connect and create and just be. Stella and the bus even manage to touch the heart of a junkyard boss.
It’s magical. Poignant. Awww-provoking. So very satisfying. And with rich, exactly right language throughout.
Stella fascinates me. She changes in some ways – she makes new friends and tries new things – but she also doesn’t.
Early on she’s described this way, Stella, the color of moonlight… The illustrations show her as washed out, lacking the same color palette as the rest of the world. I expected her to absorb colors as the story went along. I was sure it would be a Pleasantville sort of transformation.
But (spoiler alert), no. She is still as pale and washed out at the end as she started.
This is brilliant. So, naturally, it confused me at first.
The thing is, as I see it… Stella doesn’t have to change that integral part of herself – whatever it means – because this book is about acceptance and individuals appreciating each others’ differences as well as their commonalities.
It’s okay to be the color of moonlight.
What color are you?
Sarah Wones Tomp
WRITING ON THE SIDEWALK
Writing on the sidewalk 