Читать книгу Mr. Brandon's School Bus - Tom Brandon - Страница 6

Foreword

Larry Lee

For those of us who call the South home, school buses are as common as Coca-Cola and kudzu. We see them throughout the school year and rarely consider that each is its own little magic kingdom where fantasies come alive and the sweet innocence of childhood sometimes meets reality.

Overseeing it all is the bus driver—the person entrusted with the safety of his or her young charges and the supreme being in all the realm.

Bus drivers have front-row seats for this wonderment. They make friends, stop fights, wipe tears, and offer smiles and encouragement. And they are reminded daily that childhood is a special place and time.

Tom Brandon has lived in this world for years. Twice a day he guides his big yellow bus along the back roads of rural Madison County, Alabama, hauling his cargo from home to Walnut Grove Elementary and home again. And with the keen eye and ear of a good storyteller, he has chronicled the great adventures of his riders with a talent that makes you see the smiles and hear the giggles.

I’ve turned to his blog time after time, always knowing a chuckle was just around the corner as he reminds us that education also happens outside the classroom.

Now he gives us a peek at his world of laughter and hurt feelings and precious innocence. Thanks to him for doing so. More importantly, thanks to him for touching so many lives.

Larry Lee is Alabama’s foremost education blogger. Read his commentary at www.larryeducation.com. An authority on rural development, Lee is a graduate of Auburn University. He is the author of In the Land of Cotton: How Old Times There Still Shape Alabama’s Future (NewSouth, 2015); Beyond the Interstate: The Crisis in Rural Alabama; Crossroads and Connections: Strategies for Rural Alabama; and Lessons Learned from Rural Schools.