Bus to the Badlands

by Margriet Ruurs, Claudia Dávila (Illustrator)

Overview

Josh, Mark, Angela and their friends have been waiting for years to go on the class trip to Drumheller, Alberta. Now they are finally the oldest kids at Pleasant Valley grade school and can get excited about the overnight outing. But first, they have a lot of learn about what they'll see in the dinosaur capital of the world. And they have to raise money for all the pizza they are going to eat on the trip! Once they finally get going, a frightening encounter with a slithery serpent leads to an amazing discovery. One that might be even better than all-you-can-eat deep dish!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459816725
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	09/11/2018
Series:	Orca Echoes Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	88
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Margriet Ruurs is the author of many award-winning books for children. She enjoys speaking about reading and writing to students at schools around the world. Her adventures have taken her to such countries as Myanmar, Pakistan, Laos, Tanzania and many others. Margriet was born in the Netherlands but has been a Canadian for most of her life. She lives with her family on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia.
Claudia Dávila writes, illustrates and designs books for kids of all ages, with stories and themes that encourage children to be strong, thoughtful, compassionate and responsible people. She lives in Toronto with her family.

Editorial Reviews

"The blend of humour and learning makes this a story one that is memorable for both Josh and the reader. Highly Recommended."

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

"The blend of humour and learning makes this a story one that is memorable for both Josh and the reader. Highly Recommended."

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

"A solid choice for beginning chapter book readers, and will keep them engaged through the lively text with bold, cartoon-like illustrations depicting a diverse group of students. Kids will feel like they are going along for the ride."

Resource Links

2018-06-11
Muddy mishaps and a thrilling discovery highlight a class outing to a dinosaur museum and dig in Alberta.Following months of fundraising and dinosaur study ("The only thing the teacher did not have us do was write dinosaur poems," reports narrator Josh with lamentable lack of disappointment), the weeklong trip to Drumheller begins with a bus, features a visit to a dinosaur museum, and culminates in an encounter with a snake—in the course of which Josh finds the protruding end of a fossilized bone. Better yet, the discovery earns Josh's whole class free pizza from the site's paleontologists! Despite the dinos and minor drama (the snake just flicks away at earliest opportunity), the tale is a staid one overall, but there is free pizza, and in Dávila's ink-and-wash illustrations, Josh is a person of color (with brown skin and straight, black hair) in a diverse class. Fledgling chapter-book readers working their way through Suzy Kline's Horrible Harry series may be drawn to this Canadian counterpart.A low-key, fantasy-free dino adventure. (Fiction. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews