Granny Franny’s Big Red Bus Book Review

GIFTED PR | For my next children’s book review, I will share my thoughts on Granny Franny’s Big Red Bus by Sonia Beldom, which I was kindly gifted an ebook of.

Granny Franny’s Big Red Bus is 33 pages long and for children 3-7 years old. The book is about Granny Franny who decides to do something special for her grandchildren Jax and Ronni’s birthday. She decides to buy a big red bus to take them on a tour of London, but she does not know how to drive it. Granny Franny then meets Thinkerbell, the talking bus bell, who helps her. The book is based on real-life events when Sonia Beldom took bus driving lessons so that she could drive old London buses around London’s landmarks. Furthermore, 10% of the sales from the book are donated to bus-related charities. Granny Franny’s Big Red Bus is a sweet book about the bond between grandparents and grandchildren. All the characters are likable from Granny Franny, Jax and Ronnie, and even Thinkerbell. The book is engaging and filled with adventure while teaching the importance of learning new things and not giving up when things get hard. The book has fun colorful illustrations, and the rhyming sentences allow the story the flow. I read the book to my 4-year-old daughter, and she wanted to know why Granny Franny could not drive the bus. She also wanted to have Thinkerbell, and she loved the birthday party.

Overall, Granny Franny’s Big Red Bus is a fun and sweet book that is great for kids.

£4.99 for Paperback and £2.49 for Kindle on Amazon

Rate: 9/10

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About the Author: Sonia Beldom’s background is in radio and TV production. She is also a presentation coach and therapist. In her spare time she drives heritage buses around London, her home town. When lockdown took all the buses off the road, she wrote “Granny Franny’s Big Red Bus” to bring the joy, adventure and fun of driving to a broad children’s picture book audience. The first in the series of Granny Franny adventures is also helping to raise money for bus-related charities.

Sonia decided to learn how to drive a bus just after becoming a step granny and all her friends thought she was crazy to drive a huge bus around London’s busy streets. Sonia attributes her bravery to her mum who was diagnosed with 6 mental health conditions aged 80. “All my life I’d been looking after my mum who flirted with bus drivers, got me into embarrassing situations and had the bravest spirit of anyone I’ve ever known. In my blog, soniasmum.com I’ve shared many stories about growing up with a mum with severe mental health issues and they’ve brought laughter and support to thousands of people who want to share their own stories. Thanks to inheriting my mum’s free spirit I drove my first bus of tourists down Oxford Street and over Tower Bridge, grinning from ear to ear as everyone stopped, waved and took photographs.

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