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There's much that's weird about Color-In a Visit to the Bus Yard, published by the Alameda-Contra Costa transit district as part of some campaign to instill in kids warm feelings about the color of buses. (I got this for $.29 at the El Cerrito Thrift Town. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the wonderful Leslie sent me the Mark Trail book!) The first weird thing is the weird way that unidentified creators' high-minded inclusivity actually prevents kids from being able to color some of the characters: The message: Brown people are already brown, but white people can be any color you can dream of! Also, please note that the brown man's neck and arms are white for some reason. And that the one-eyed woman from Futurama is a child visiting this bus yard. And that the one-eyed girl's mom has no lower half. And that even though this book looks like it was drawn in sand with a stick, it's still much, much better than The Dune Coloring Book. The heart of the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District is, of course, Oakland, so it's appropriate that the book's buses are kind of depressing: My New Favorite Thing in the World: The graffiti tag that says "Solo Guys," which, if you think about it, is a terrible name for a gang. The creators of this coloring book don't shy away from the hard realities of Oakland buses. They even over-emphasize it. The book's story -- kids of all races smile at buses -- ends with this page: The last line of Charlotte's Web: "It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both." The last line of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: "I'm so glad to be home again." The last line of Color-In a Visit to the Bus Yard: "'No one lies to ride a sad bus,' he told the children." On the back cover, there's a fun-time activity fit only for completing while riding on one of those sad, sad buses: SPOILER: It's another bus. (There's even sadder dot-to-dots archived here.) --The mighty Studies in Crap e-mail list alerts you whenever a new SiC post hits. Sign up at studiesincrap@sfweekly.com
