We live in a bus by Dave Petzold

Imagine getting up in the morning and doing whatever you like, going wherever the road takes you unimpeded by having to go to school or work. Sounds like a dream for the future after your working life is over and you have retired, and, indeed, for thousands of grey nomads, it is living the dream.

But what if you’re a child and it is your reality?  Because that’s the life of the family in this CBCA 2025 Shortlist nominee for Picture Book of the Year. Every day there is somewhere new to go and something new to do or see as they travel around in Gracie Joy Rufus Bean, a bus especially converted to be a mobile home, with her door that goes tic-shhh! and Blob, the bus spider who lives over the top bunk.  There are new people to meet and stories to share, adventures to have and camping under the stars wherever you pull up puts you in tune with nature.

Creator Dave Petzold talks about the inspiration and process or creating the book on his website, stemming from his own family road trip, and with its straightforward, onomatopoeic text and distinctive illustrations (which he describes in this interview as “a smudgy jumble of collaged shapes and lines”), it encourages the reader to appreciate the journey as much as the destination - wherever that may be. Taking time out to play on a musical fence, listen to the sound of the budgies as they take off when the bus rolls through, learning the stories of Country, and feeling the cool of the clear water of the unspoiled waterhole.

This has the potential to spark lots of discussion about the pros and cons of such a lifestyle, encouraging young readers to look closely at their own and identify what is precious to them, as well as considering those new things they could explore if they were not tied to timetables, screens, and after-school activities. Are there ways they could have the best of both worlds?  Are there places they want to visit and maps to make?  Are there dreams to build and make come true?

Petzold himself was CBCA Shortlisted for the New Illustrator award in 2021 for his first book, Seven Seas of Fleas – two nominations from two works makes him one to look for in the future.

Themes: Buses, travel.

Barbara Braxton