This one originally came as a recommendation from awesome Catherine over at the fabulous Story Snug blog and we were utterly delighted with it - and it still gets read today.

It feels like the sort of book I loved as a kid too, purely because it's a work of whimsy that doesn't feel the need to cram a 'message' down your throat like so many other picture books you won't find in our #Booky100Keepers list.

The story opens with a bus driver, a chap who is well and truly stuck in a rut. He gets up at the same time every morning, goes to work at the same time every morning, and sets off on time in his big red bus.

Only...one morning something changes. Thanks to some traffic the driver sees another road, a road he's never gone down before - and soon he and his passengers are embarking on a mystery tour to 'who knows where' aboard the bus (kids don't actually worry about the fact that some of the folk on the bus need to get to work or school, they just go along with the story without questioning the mechanics of it, and I ADORE that about this book).

As the driver picks up more and more passengers, they all begin to realise that the bus is getting a bit crowded. But never mind, they're an inventive lot and help to build another deck on the bus, and another, and another - until the bus eventually reaches the sea.

Journey over? Not a bit of it! The bus is retrofitted with the ability to float, and eventually to fly in the book's big fold-out surprise reveal. For all we know that bus is still rolling along too!

Over the course of the ten years of writing this blog we've always craved stories like this. Stories that spur kids' imaginations and let them fly. Books that don't make a pretence that they're imparting some nugget of wisdom that your common sense wouldn't have already told you (and if there's one huge criticism I'd make of the current UK picture book market, it's that it's utterly and completely bloated with horrid little books that deem to tell you - or your kids -  how to live a better life or to be a better person). This book does none of those things. This book merely sets out to entertain you and boy, it sure does a good job of that.

Original review link

https://readitdaddy.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-hundred-decker-bus-by-mike-smith.html

Thanks to our good friend Catherine over at StorySnug for recommending this one. Narrowly missing out on our "Transport" theme from last week, our copy of "The Hundred Decker Bus" by Mike Smith arrived over the weekend and we've been reading through it again and again.

The story starts off as the bus driver prepares for an ordinary driving day. He drinks his cup of tea, slides on his jacket and pulls out of the bus station precisely on time. He picks up the same passengers every day, and travels the same route - but a mysterious side road catches his eye. What would be at the end of that mysterious road? Time to find out!

His (very understanding) passengers don't mind the diversion, and soon the bus is sailing through country lanes and past beautiful fields, picking up lots of new passengers on the way. When the bus stops at the sea, the journey doesn't end there. Soon the bus is on board a ferry, sailing for distant lands.

Sailors decide that a mystery journey sounds fun - but the bus is already full! What can be done? With a swift bit of expert engineering the sailors add Deck 3 to the bus - and the scene is set for more adventures, more passengers and even more decks!

We loved the way the story built up to a brilliant climax as more and more detailed little decks are added, more passengers clamber aboard for an adventure - and there's an absolutely HUGE fold-out page to be enjoyed once the bus gets to 100 decks tall.

The fun doesn't last forever. As you'd imagine, the poor bus suffers from the extra load and breaks down - but can something or someone pitch in at the last minute to help out? (We'll let you find out the answer for yourself in this fab book).

There are so many brilliant bits in the book (a bus with its own swimming pool! Wow!) and Mike's eye for detail is awesome. We enjoyed our journey aboard the 100 decker bus and so will you!

Charlotte's best bit: Going swimming in the deep end (and looking at the butterflies out of the window)

Daddy's Favourite bit: Fun, detailed and a wonderful fold-out that's taller than I am! A truly fantastic journey!