*AD – the item in this review was gifted to our household for this post. All opinions, as always, are our own.
Granny Franny’s Big Red Bus is an adorable children’s bedtime story, about a fun day out for two young kids – in London! We love bedtime stories in our home, so finding new and fun books is something we tend to look out for. As we live so close to London, and travel into London often, I was pretty excited to read about an adventure on one of those big red London busses!
In this story, Granny Franny throws big parties on Sundays for the twins, her grandchildren, who are actually having a birthday soon! She decides to do one of her classic Sunday parties, but with a twist – by getting the kids a big red London bus to drive around in! This idea doesn’t come without problems; Granny doesn’t own a bus, she can’t drive a bus, and the only bus she can find for sale is quite far away. Luckily for her, this bus has a Thinkerbell in it, which can help guide her. I really liked how Granny wasn’t perfect, she had flaws like not being able to drive, but she always asked for help in the book. Being an adult and asking for help is something that isn’t seen in many children’s books, so it’s good to showcase that not even adults are perfect.
Thinkerbell is a character in this book! She talks to Granny when Granny is overwhelmed, calls her friends to help, and does a lot of directing Granny while she drives. Her text is actually in all capitol letters – most of the time in bright colours – to distinguish her as the bus and not another human. These little touches are great and added a lot of personality for this talking bus button. As previously mentioned, this book does reference London, talking about visiting the queen and riding on the London Eye, which was great to read out, as these are places we can relate too and have seen before.
The story in Granny Franny’s Big Red Bus well written, though I feel the graphics could do with a bit of an update. They very much look like they were made in Microsoft Paint, but nobody seemed to actually mind and everyone enjoyed the book, which was very nice. It’s a medium sized story, a bit longer than a few of the other bedtime books, but not too long to drag into bedtime.
‘They very much look like they were made in Microsoft Paint, but nobody seemed to actually mind and everyone enjoyed the book,’ Love this!
This book sounds like such a good gem! Thank you for the reccommendation!
Didi
It’s quite neat that a book without amazing graphic still can be great for kids!