Jay-Jay The Supersonic Bus by Sue Wickstead – Children’s Book Blog Tour

Thank you to Rachel at https://www.rachelsrandomresources.com/ for organising this tour and to Sue Wickstead for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Synopsis

Jay-Jay the bus is rescued from the dirty scrap yard, where he was sadly gathering dust and cobwebs. Feeling nervous yet excited, he is taken to an airport where he is magically transformed into a ‘Playbus’ full of toys, games and adventure.

A fictional tale based on a real-life bus ‘Supersonic’, which flew in the imaginations of the many young children who visited it.

My Thoughts

The story of Jay-Jay, The Supersonic Bus is just a pure delight for younger children.  As a child, my son was a bus fanatic and would have loved this story.

Jay-Jay is an old bus, gathering dust in a yard somewhere until one day somebody comes along, buys him and turns him into a fabulous playbus loved by all the children.  This little gem has so many layers to discover and discuss with young children and is written so entertainingly, without being complicated.

The main theme is the feeling of being loved and what that feels like and what it feels like to belong as part of something..  This book is such a great way of looking at different ways to show love and how people show it to us.  There is also the theme that sometimes, old things can be amazing with just a little bit of work.  This leads brilliantly into recycling and upcycling and even the impact this can have on the environment.  Additionally, it looks at how with care and attention, people can bloom with confidence which leads nicely into being kind and taking care of people/things.

As a teacher I’m excited about using this with younger children and asking them to design a playbus with their favourite things in it and then some writing based around it and also using it to delve into the themes above.

What really makes this book are the beautifully done illustrations.  More in the traditional style of children’s book illustrations, they really bring the story to life in a simple and beautiful way.

This is such a beautiful little book.

Purchase Links –

Web site: www.suewickstead.co.uk

http://bit.ly/JJKSupersonic – Amazon .co.uk

http://amzn.to/2BxvU2l – Amazon .com

Waterstones http://bit.ly/2F9DSQ5

WH Smiths http://bit.ly/2TtCr2I

Book depository http://bit.ly/2Ax6VcZ

Foyles http://bit.ly/2Ffm71U

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/2GXLTdq

Author Bio – Sue Wickstead

I am a teacher and an author and have currently written six children’s picture books with a bus theme.

For over 20 years, alongside my teaching career, I worked with a Children’s Charity, The Bewbush Playbus Association, which led me to write a photographic history book about it.

I soon found that many children had never been on a bus before, let alone a ‘Playbus’ and they wanted to know more. I decided to write a fictional tale about the bus, his number plate JJK261 gave him his name.

‘Jay-Jay the Supersonic Bus,’ came out in print in 2014. It is the story behind the original bus and is his journey from a scrap-yard to being changed into a playbus for children to play in. From Fact to fiction the bus journey continued.

This story has now been followed by five more picture books.

I also undertake events and author bookings and love to share the story. There are also a few more stories in the writing process, with links to real events and buses.

The story has been read in many schools in the south-East of England, where I teach as a cover teacher, it is always well received and certainly different.

Social Media Links –

https://www.suewickstead.co.uk/

Facebook: – Author Page http://bit.ly/2kEEhPq

http://bit.ly/2kXfjdj – Bewbush Playbus

http://bit.ly/2BZiews – Teacher in the cupboard

Twitter https://twitter.com/JayJayBus

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