Bug on the Bus by David Catrow

• Publisher: Holiday House
• Publication Date: January 13, 2026
• Reviewed from Edelweiss e-galley
• ISBN: 9780823461080

Part of the I Like to Read collection, this is a very clever beginning reader.. Bug waits patiently for the bus to come, runs to the bus and hops on. Pig runs to the bus and hops on. So does Pup, but Bat doesn’t run or hop. Fox and Hen run to the bus, as does Cat. Slug runs too, but far more slowly than the others. Finally, Skunk runs and hops on the bus. But no one wants to ride with Skunk, not even the driver, except for Bug. But what will they do with no one to drive the bus?

Catrow gives this reader plenty of action built into his simple words and phrases. He keeps the sentences in the book simple and the real story is told in the pictures. The illustrations add a wildness to the title, with their wacky characters, oversized reactions, and the wonderful hops onto the bus by the various animals. 

Silly and delightfully odd, this beginning reader stands out from the rest like a skunk on a bus.