Children’s Book Review – Gloria the Summer Fun Bus by Sue Wickstead*

Gloria The Summer Bus is the latest picture book written by author and teacher Sue Wickstead who was inspired to begin her series of playbus-themed stories based on her experiences of working with a playbus charity in Crawley.

The latest book in the series tells the tale of bad-tempered Max who is encouraged to get onboard the bus to try out some of the activities with his eager younger brother and the other children. He soon realises how much fun he was missing out on and starts to enjoy himself once he gets involved.

The story is sweet and simplistic so that young children can understand the situations and identify with the relatable characters. The moral of the story is ultimately not to judge something until you’ve tried it, and this is something we come back to time and time again in our household – usually when encouraging our children to try new foods!

Soon we see Max grudgingly enter the fun bus despite claiming it’s just for ‘babies’ but he soon changes his tune when he gets involved and ultimately starts to enjoy himself.

Earlier in my career I spent almost 10 years as a youth worker and summer sessional play leader so Gloria was particularly poignant for me as I came across many a child like Max. Playleader Brigit responds to the negativity with gentle encouragement instead of chastisement and the respect is eventually reciprocated when Max apologises for his earlier behaviour. Gloria the Fun Bus ends up becoming a really positive experience for Max and although fictitious, you can feel Sue’s own experiences with similar schemes and children in the past in every page.

The characters were realistic and relatable and not just to me, my children Seb aged 7 and Margot, 3, liked that Max got involved in the activities in the end and his early behaviour gave way to conversations about manners and sharing stories together.

It’s nicely written and something a bit different from the usual picture books we tend to read. My own children haven’t seen or been onboard a playbus yet but the book definitely sparked an interest. We can only hope local councils have the funding to deliver these schemes in the not so distant when we can all be together again.

Sue Wickstead is a teacher and author who writes children’s picture books with a bus theme. She has also written a photographic history book about the real bus, which is where her story writing began. Sue once worked with a playbus charity based in Crawley. This led her to write the photographic history book about the project. The ‘Bewbush Playbus’ book was published in 2012. The books are written in response to questions from children Sue has met on her teaching journey.

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

The paperback version of the book is RRP £4.15 and is available here direct from Amazon, you can also get the Kindle version for £2.99.

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.

About the book
Gloria the Summer Fun Bus
Age Range: 4 – 8 years
Publisher: JayJayBooks
ISBN-10: 191639230X
ISBN-13: 978-1916392304
Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 0.3 x 21.6 cm
Number of pages: 39 pages

Review by: Libby Wilkinson

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

Children’s Book Review: Jay-Jay The Supersonic Bus by Sue Wickstead

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