Children’s Book Review – Sparky the Dragon Bus by Sue Wickstead*

Today we are reading Sparky the Dragon Bus, and letting you know what we thought of this Children’s book by Sue Wickstead. The story is about the transformation of a regular bus, becoming a children’s play bus, called Sparky. The bus is the narrator and talks us through his/her transformation, and tells the reader about how Sparky awaits his/her new visitors. We then hear about how Sparky receives a number of guests including a special guest of a little girl who happens to be in a wheelchair. We are told about her day on Sparky and what she thought of this extraordinary bus. The book is aimed at between 4 years to 8 years and is being read by my eldest daughter, to my two younger boys!

What we thought of the Book

The book is well written, with flowing sentences and follows a fairly straightforward narrative. However, my children were not overly enamoured with the book. They said they were bored my the story, and felt it wasn’t that interesting. There are no names to the characters within the book, which i feel makes it hard to make a connection with them. As an adult, I found it to be a nice story and understood the direction towards trying to inform of the challenges a child may come across if they were in a wheelchair. The book is beautifully illustrated. The soft watercolour printing works really well and the children’s faces are simple but really pleasing to the eye.

This book would do well in a school setting when it relates directly to a school/term topic linked with the story in the book. That way the book can be read to a group of children, and then talked about in detail, on how a child in a wheelchair may need different things in order for them to be able to carry out the tasks of a child that doesn’t need one. This way it’s used alongside learning. The format of the story would suit this kind of explorative learning, that would take place in a classroom, and this is exactly how many of Sue Wickstead’s books are read. She often visits schools and reads them in classrooms where she is teaching as a supply teacher.

About the Author

Sue Wickstead, is from Crawley in the South of England and works as a supply teacher. She has two children and when they were young she was very much involved in The Bewbush Playbus, where her children actually attended playgroup on the bus. Sue, is clearly an interesting person, with her background in teaching and involvement with The Bewbush Playbus Association, which was a Children’s Charity. She sounds an incredibly busy sort of lady! Her link with The real Bewbush Playbus was the true story of a bus transformed back in the 1980’s by a Guild Guide Association. As a Project Coordinator to The real Bewbush Playbus, Sue was involved in putting together photographs which were then turned into her first book about the history of the playbus. Once this book was published, she was met by curious children asking her about the mysterious playbus, which is when she decided to write her first children’s book. She now has over six books and plans to write more about the adventures of the Buses, Jay-Jay and Sparky, who feature in her stories.

How much is the book, and where can you buy one? 

The paperback version of the book is RRP £6.99 and is available here direct from amazon, you can also get the Kindle version for £2.99.

About the Book 

Review by: Lex Ward

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* We were sent a copy of the book for free in return for a review. All opinions are our own.