School Heroes Series

Race around with Ms. Bernice the school custodian as her walkie-talkie buzzes with calls for expert cleanup… and one big surprise!

Ms. Bernice starts her day in the custodial closet, stocking up her cart and reviewing her to-do list of fifteen routine jobs. But from a glitter disaster to a bird in the library, a class pet in the vents to a flood in the bathroom, the day has other things in mind! 

Ms. Bernice! Emergency! We need you here in Classroom B!

No mess is too sticky for Ms. Bernice to handle. At the end of the day, she’s called one more time, to the auditorium… is this another emergency? Or something a little more fun? Hint: the story takes place on October 2, which happens to be Custodial Appreciation Day. 

A school is an entire community of its own, but many of its members never get celebrated. Chelsea Lin Wallace and Thyra Heder’s School Heroes series shines the spotlight on the helpers; in this book, the person who keeps the school clean, comfortable and safe. Readers will be inspired to take a little better care of shared spaces, to help out their own Ms. Bernice—and enjoy a cameo from the bus driver star of the first School Heroes book, On Our Way with Mr. Jay!

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Cheer for the district’s most intrepid school bus driver as he races to get everybody to school before the bell rings!

A school is an entire community of its own, but many of its members never get celebrated. This book, the hero is the school bus driver! The first staff member kids see in the morning and the last they say goodbye to, the bus driver has a crucial part to play—and Mr. Jay is up to the challenge.

With the clock ticking all the while, Mr. Jay picks up kids from all over town—out in the country, up a hill, in the busy city, always piloting his bus with jaunty rhymes and a can-do attitude. Along the route, he’s called upon to settle stomachs, clean up pony poo, and fix a diorama. He avoids a stampede, settles down an intruding dog, and even fights off hostile swans! But will he get the kids to school on time? 

Chelsea Lin Wallace and Thyra Heder deliver a rollicking, high-energy ride with On Our Way with Mr. Jay, the first in a series of books about school heroes. Whether eager for the start of school, nervous about new experiences, or fond of their own beloved driver, kids will be giggling and cheering their way through this irrepressible, fun-filled read-aloud.

A Smithsonian Magazine Best Children’s Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year