The Walking School Bus

Every morning, Shaka and Nandi walk for miles to school. They are accompanied by their father, as there are thieves waiting under bridges along the route, waiting to steal from unaccompanied children.

So, when Dad gets a job in a mine and can’t accompany Shaka and Nandi to school anymore, they have to stay at home. Yet, when Shaka unearths a toy school bus, it gives him an idea. What if they buy a school bus? When that idea doesn’t work, Shaka and Nandi think about making a school bus… and when that doesn’t work, they come to the realisation that if enough children walk to school together – a walking bus – then they will be safe from thieves, and able to go to school again.

This lovely book, written by Aaron Friedland, the founder and executive director of The Simbi Foundation (which provides help around the world for children to access education) and Ndileka Mandela, head of the Thembekile Mandela Foundation, highlights the difficulties that children can have getting to school in some parts of the world. As well as being a useful resource to use as the basis of a discussion about education in other countries, it’s also a beautifully illustrated story about resilience, and will inspire young readers to keep trying until they reach their goals.