PUPPY BUS

A child winds up on the wrong bus on their first day at a new school.

The narrator, who is light-skinned with dark curly hair, isn’t excited about attending an unfamiliar school; things get even worse when it turns out that the bus is filled with dogs. At school, the protagonist tries to find a grown-up, but everyone here is a canine—even the principal—so it’s off to class with the puppies. When the child is feeling down, their seatmate from the bus cheers them up, and when they learn that this school has recess, things really improve. The cartoonish art and simple text offer humor on many levels, from bathroom jokes (the bathroom stall contains a fire hydrant) to witty background details (a poster of the food pyramid depicts a pile of bones). Brockington also explores what first days at new schools have in common, whether the students are human or canine: feeling confused, out of place, and lonely until an overture of friendship is extended. The child’s expressions shift from freaked out to grossed out to blissed out as they lie in a pile of puppies at recess. The child comes home happy, ready to return to puppy school tomorrow, but of course there’s a twist ending that will have readers laughing again. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A fabulous, funny take on the new-kid and first-day-of-school concepts, especially for animal lovers.