Bus Route to Boston

The everyday sights, sounds and smells of a colorful and bustling city come alive in this book - a child's view of Boston. Maryann Cocca-Leffler remembers frequent bus trips she took into the city as a girl with her mother and little sister. Together they shopped for delicious treats in the Italian North End - warm pizza and creamy cannoli - or stopped for ice cream sundaes at Bailey's after a day of bargain hunting at Filene's Basement. One of the best things about the trips was the bus driver, Bill. He started his route each day in their neighborhood and knew all the kids on the street. In this engaging Parents' Choice Award book, the author-artist conveys all the warmth and simple pleasure of childhood memories and the people and places that made them so special.

Bus Route to Boston The everyday sights, sounds and smells of a colorful and bustling city come alive in this book--a child's view of Boston. Maryann Cocca-Leffler remembers frequent bus trips she took into the city as a girl with her mother and little sister. Together they shopped for delicious treats in the Italian North End--warm pizza and creamy cannoli--or stopped for ice cream sundaes at Bailey's after a day of bargain hunting at Filene's Basement. One of the best things about the trips was the bus driver, Bill. He started his route each day in their neighborhood and knew all the kids on the street. In this engaging book, the author-artist conveys all the warmth and simple pleasure of childhood memories and the people and places that made them so special.

Children's Literature

Here is a retelling of the author's actual childhood bus trips to Boston from the point of view of a young girl. One Saturday the girl, her little sister, and their mom went to Filene's Basement for the big sale. After shopping for bargains, they all went to Bailey's for ice cream sundaes. Another Saturday they went to the Haymarket to buy fruits and vegetables, then to Alberto's Butcher Shop, and finally to the bakery, where they got warm pizza, which they ate right away, and four cannoli to go. On the bus trip back, they ate three cannoli and gave one to Bill, their favorite bus driver, as they always did. This could be why he was so good-natured and would give them free rides down their block and let them beep the horn. The multi-patterned and extremely colorful acrylic pictures detail Boston's streets and interiors, as well as the street where the family lives--the very bus route to Boston. The simple pleasures of these childhood memories are particularized in the fat lady trying on a too small dress, mom squeezing the tomatoes even though Vinnie gets mad, or the girls scooping out the cream from the cannoli. 2000, Boyds Mills Press, Ages 5 to 9, $15.95. Reviewer: Carol Raker Collins

Maryann Cocca-Leffler is the illustrator of the acclaimed Wanda's Roses by Pat Brisson and Clams All Year, which she wrote. She lives in New Hampshire.