Teaching school bus safety behavior to younger student riders comes in a variety of forms. A Georgia grandmother is using a children’s book to bring the safety lessons to life.
Annette Bentley-Smith, or Mrs. Annie, has a passion for writing. She self-published her first book in 2015. Since then, she has expanded her books for children to cover various facets of education and other childhood experiences, including bullying, wearing braces, living through divorce and sleepovers. This eventually led her to the yellow school bus, a part of millions of children’s educational journey.
Bentley-Smith said her longtime friend of over 10 years, school bus driver Jeremy Tackett, mentioned to her that he doesn’t see children’s books on the topic of school bus safety. He shared many real-life experiences from his own career as a school bus driver, . Herer own two grown sons rode the school bus and her six-year-old step-grandson now does the same. All those experiences shaped the story.
She added that another friend shared with her that his daughter, who was in first grade at the time, being bullied onboard the bus by a fifth-grade student. It escalated to a physical assault inside the school.
“Safety is a broad word, it’s an umbrella,” she said.
She continued that physical safety, emotional safety, bravery, challenging new life experiences, these are all things she writes about as they’re not only situations faced by many children but “all of my books are based on actual experiences” which she said hopes will help children relate to the stories.
She said that her titular character, “Kobe the Koala,” was created to resonate with children and that she has tried to use a rhyming style to make the safety education easier to remember .
“I love my books to rhyme it because I feel like it makes it stick more and makes it more relatable. It makes it more fun and then it’s not just a book of rules,” said Bentley-Smith.
Safety Book Character Kobe Inspired by Granddaughter
Kobe is also a plush toy. Bentley-Smith, the Georgia grandmother, explained that the toy not only serves as a physical comfort to students but as an auditory reminder. The children’s families can record themselves reading the book aloud, and the audio is stored within the Kobe toy. She said her granddaughter had once said to her, “I wish you could be here every night to read to me.” That inspired this journey to create a toy that can carry the voice of their loved ones.
The story in “Kobe the Koala and the School Bus Mission” follows the main character walking through the woods and seeing a school bus drive by. As it does, students demonstrate unsafe behaviors by hanging out the windows and throwing objects outside. Kobe then goes onto the school bus and starts explaining to the students that safe behaviors means staying seated, keeping backpacks out of the aisle, and speaking softly.
The goal of the story is to teach students how to be brave and set good examples for their peers which makes the school bus ride safe and fun, not only for themselves but for the driver.
“They [school bus drivers] are trying to, you know, stay focused on the road, but then at the same time, they have to stay focused on these kids and when all this commotion is going on, it’s unsafe for the kids and unsafe for the bus driver.,” stated Bentley-Smith. “So, it kind of ties in with my mission, with the kids, teaching the kids bravery and speaking up. And being willing to practice good safety and good behavior,”
Bentley-Smith posted the following review on LinkedIn from a first-grade teacher who used the book with her class:
“I read this book before our field trip and it was perfect,” the reader wrote. “I went over how to behave during the field trip and this helped to discuss how to ride a bus for the ones who are not bus riders. It helped to keep our bus clean and they were ready to discuss the right and wrong ways to ride a bus. They loved it and appreciated the fact that the author was local!”
Bentley-Smith recommends using a rewards system that gives students a sense of accomplishment when they consistently practice safe school bus behavior through a “School Bus Bucks” program that has a prize of a pin that reads “School Bus Safety Star.”
She explained that she plans to use the Kobe character in a series of 10 books that will be set in different states across the country. This first book in the series is set in her home state of Georgia.
Her website provides information about a sponsorship called the “The 485 Children’s Mission,” which looks to give 485 copies of the “Kobe the Koala and the School Bus Mission” as resources to students across the country through placement in schools, community organizations, families in need, literacy programs, and directly to student transportation professionals as part of their own safety training programs.
Related: NC Transportation Manager Channels Passion for Education, Safety into Children’s Books
Related: School Bus Driver Creates Children’s Book to Promote School Bus Safety
Related: Children’s Books by School Bus Drivers Double as Safety Education Tool
