One Boy Watching

Description

Everyone knows what it feels like to be a passenger - and this book finally puts this universal feeling into words. Climb aboard Bus Number Four as it travels along country roads and city streets, past train tracks and farm fields. Through the window, countless details rush by, just waiting to be noticed. What will you see today? In this lyrical tribute to long rides and curious minds, author Grant Snider celebrates the extraordinary found within the ordinary, the fascinating hiding within the familiar, and the world of discovery awaiting all those who watch and wonder.

Grant Snider is an orthodontist by day, finding hidden hours to write, draw, and create cartoons and picture books, including What Color is Night? and What Sound is Morning? For 11 years, he rode Bus Number Four to school in Mulvane, Kansas. His favourite things about riding the bus were listening to '90s Top 40 radio, the feeling of going over a big bump on a country dirt road, and occasionally getting to school late when the bus had to wait for a long train to pass. He lives in Wichita, Kansas, with his family.

"Sumptuous color and a peaceful tempo make "One Boy Watching" a beguiling invitation for 4- to 8-year-olds to notice what's around them." - Wall Street Journal "The real wow factor, however, is in the quietly powerful way that Snider uses color....the reader can almost hear the sound of [the children's] laughter, the rumble of the bus's engine and the wail of a train horn at the railroad crossing-all with hardly any words on the page.... thoughtful readers who prefer to spend time lingering over illustrations or making up their own stories...will especially appreciate One Boy Watching.. ividly conveys the experiences of those first-to-get-on, last-to-get-off students."- BookPage "In brightly endearing illustrations...a boy's trip to and from school is captured through the many things that can be counted and observed. A solid title for sharing with children working on descriptive writing and for those communities where bus riding is part of the day, [One Boy Watching] is a beautiful homage to that childhood experience." -School Library Journal "Brightly colored illustrations, with soft edges and scribbly details, pair beautifully with the spare, well-paced prose. Repetition throughout conveys the bus ride's routine nature, but, paired with the art, it emphasizes how varied-and intriguing-it can be. Here observing becomes not just a way to pass time but an opportunity to engage with the outside world."-Booklist "[One Boy Watching is a] contemplative picture book that bears watching."-Kirkus Reviews