The Wheels on the Bus

I had this same book as a kid. I had to get it for my toddler. He absolutely loved it the same way I did. Your child will tear it and pieces will break. I tape and glue it as many times I can to repair it until I can’t. It’s still a really fun interactive book. You should definitely get it as a gift or for your young kids.

Illustrations are colorful and fun, and the interactive pop-ups are incredibly sturdy. I gave it to my son when he was about two years old, and he is now 30. I am now sharing this fun book with my granddaughter. It is a go-to favorite at bedtime. That book has been well loved, and amazingly, every one of the movable parts is still working! After twenty-eight years of use, the wheels on the bus still do go round and round, and the door to the bus still opens and shuts, windows go up and down, etc. Just gave a new copy to a coworker who has a two-year-old. She says that it is now her child's favorite. Funny thing is, it's my favorite too.

If you're in the market for "The Wheels on the Bus", get this one. There isn't a better illustration offered.

Awesome book it bought it over thirty years ago for my for daughter, and just bought this new Edition for her son

I purchased this book for my one year old granddaughter. I've been singing Wheels on the Bus to her since she was born and she just loves the song. When I saw this book, I thought it would be perfect to have at our house for her visits. She was so excited when I opened the first page of the book and started to sing the words to her. Each page has a clever pull-out or moving part which basically animates the story. I love that the "end of the line" is the library. I would say out of all the books we have at our house for her, this is her favorite. She loves turning the wheels and opening and closing the doors on the bus. I read the one review that said this book is difficult to operate for little hands and takes adult supervision. This is true of this book, but also true of all the pull-out/moving parts books my granddaughter has. This isn't an issue for us because we read the books together and honestly, I'm not really concerned if some of the movable parts get bent or even ripped. That is easily fixed and well worth the joy this book brings to my granddaughter.

I recently purchased this for my five-month old grandson to put in his Easter basket, knowing he was not ready for it but wanting him to have it as part of his collection. It is an exquisitely beautiful book and my daughter and I were mesmerized by it. She did read it to my grandson and we were shocked that he seemed riveted by the illustrations. This book is a work of art and at some point, every child will learn the words to The Wheels on the Bus song, which makes the book even more enjoyable. There is so much going on here. You pull a tab and the door to the bus opens. You pull another tab and the bus driver is moving back and forth asking the riders to "move on back." You pull a tab and the baby is crying. This may be the kind of book that adults will always want to read to children, especially when children are at that age where they are exploring and it would not be that difficult to rip important parts of the moving pieces in this stunning book. That would not be a drawback for me as I would enjoy reading this book and as the child gets older, you can explain the importance of the tabs and not wanting to rip them off. This is the nature of pop-out books and there are many of them, but this one is very special. I highly recommend this book, even if you think your child is not quite ready for it. You will enjoy it in the meantime.

Gave this as a gift for a little girl that we know. She is three years old and loves to sing the wheels on the bus. This is an interactive book and my children (years ago) absolutely adored it, and as I said, I gave it to a friend’s daughter that we know, and she loves it as well!

Updated on 5-7-15: Our 2.5 year old LOVES this book, and we read it practically every night, pointing out different events or objects in the illustrations. I downgraded this book by 1 star to 4 stars because the quality of the book is lower than other popup or flip-the-flap books we have. We're on our third copy of this book. Some of the flap mechanisms don't hold up worse than others. Our first copy was destroyed, the second copy is downstairs among the toys, and the third copy is upstairs on the precious bookshelf and reserved for bedtime stories only. I will purchase this book again if I need to (toddlers can be curious and strong), but I'm disappointed I keep having to buy it more times than any other book we have. My 13 month old likes pop-up books the most, so I went on amazon and ordered a couple more popup books for her. While all the new books are entertaining for her, The Wheels on the Bus has become her new favorite book. She sits so still while I read/sing her through this book, completely captivated by the pages and movements (maybe also by my off-key voice). This book is a lot of fun for us at bedtime and throughout the day. It's also great at reinforcing what I've trying to teach her (like open and shut, in and out, up and down, etc). Additionally, the graphics are really elaborate. Sometimes I draw my daughter's attention to the bird on the steps, the dog running away from the lady, the person getting splashed by the bus, etc... every page is just full of extra detail and action. The downsides of this book are that the quality is a bit weak... our book is already getting soft at the seams and I can see the stitching of where the pages attach to the binding. I don't see this book being able to stand up to abuse, so it sits on a higher shelf, out of her reach. In fact, I think the book might fall apart within a year or two if we keep reading at the rate we're going. Secondly, there are not a lot of flaps for her to flip-- many of the actions require firm but delicate movements, which is not easy for a young baby/toddler to do by themselves. The Mathew van Fleet books are much more toddler tab-pulling friendly. Regardless of these issue, I still give this book a solid 5 stars. The way it has captured my daughter's attention is priceless... I can tell she really loves having this book read to her.