Review by Booklist Review
This unique counting book is created with vivid paintings highlighting the vibrancy of life in southwest Burkina Faso in Africa. The clothes, textiles, food, flora, and fauna are all bursting with color as a bus travels down a beautifully diverse route (the most beautiful road in the world!), which is nicely mapped out on the endpapers. Fatima and Galo, the children of the bus driver, Big Ali, get to ride up top, securing the luggage of passengers (successively numbered but, oddly, beginning with five objects), which ranges from inanimate belongings (cooking oil, rice) to the very animate (ducks, goats, chickens). There are plenty of opportunities for counting the obvious passengers and luggage, of course, but also the less obvious, like trees. Arrival at Bobo station in the big city highlights the important roles the bus, bus driver, and Fatima and Galo who are duly rewarded have played. The numerous vibrant details make this a great choice not only as a counting primer but also for use as an introduction to Burkina Faso culture and geography.--Seales, Stephanie Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Fatima and Galo are helping their father, Big Ali, by loading the luggage for a trip to Bobo. Traveling along the Bobo Road in Burkina Faso, the children have the best view of the wild animals, waterfalls, and rock domes all around them because they ride on top of the bus. In this colorful picture book, readers are transported to West Africa for an everyday adventure to an extraordinary place. The tale capitalizes on the sights and sounds surrounding the children but also attempts to integrate counting in the narrative of the text. From the front flap, readers are instructed to "help count three bikes, seven melons, and even ten chickens," and the narrative does include a progressive buildup of things added to the bus (two mopeds, three bicycles, four cans of cooking oil, etc.); however, counting is never reinforced through the design of the text or any repetition in the story. Corr's images are vibrant folk-style depictions, created with gouache, that invite readers to experience a new kind of bus ride. VERDICT A light, fun read-aloud with some unusual twists.-Megan Egbert, Meridian Library District, ID © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Accompanying their father, a minibus driver, young Fatima and Galo look after passengers' luggage on the roof: two mopeds, three bicycles, four cans of cooking oil, five sacks of rice, etc. The exuberant adventure through Burkina Faso passes waterfalls, hippos, 1.8-billion-year-old rock domes, and the Grand Mosque in Bobo Dioulasso, all vividly depicted in Corr's colorful, naovely styled illustrations. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
