The Yellow Bus

March 18, 2024
This thought-provoking story by Long (Never Forget Eleanor) models how a cast-aside object might endure. A spectacular aerial opening spread shows the yellow vehicle of the title as a single spot of color moving through a rural village in a river valley. In its earliest iterations, the yellow bus takes children, then older citizens, “from one important place/ to another.” Later, the parked vehicle shelters unhoused individuals in a quiet spot under a city bridge, then becomes a domicile for a herd of country goats and, following a landscape altered by construction, offers sanctuary in another, quite unexpected, place. In each new role, the individuals that inhabit the bus “filled her with joy.” Grayscale landscapes are rendered in sculpted and shaded pencil work, while the bus and the beings within it are painted in brightly colored acrylics, an effect that visually highlights the vehicle’s relationship with its inhabitants and surroundings. It’s a saga that paves way for discussions about utility and repurposing, social and structural priorities, change over time, and more. Human characters are shown with various skin tones. An author’s note concludes. Ages 3–6. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.