The bestseller of the Zig Zag Series for readers 8-12

Rights sold in Germany, Japan, Brazil, Spain, and Korea

Benjamin’s bus driver is ugly and smells. She never answers when her riders say “Good morning”, but when they don’t, she barks “Mind your manners!” She has a big nose, a bit of a mustache. Benjamin’s friend Jean-Christophe claims she’s actually a man, but Jean-Christophe will say anything. Worst of all, she always gets everyone to school on time.

What’s to like about her? Benjamin will spend a day finding out—the day he falls asleep at the back of the bus and forgets to get off at school. Though she grumbles about having a child underfoot, Yvette the bus driver warms to Benjamin’s curiosity just as Benjamin overcomes his fear and dislike of her. He meets an elderly man, once a hand at the farm where she was raised. She takes him to the seaside, where they count the waves and then row out in a boat to pull up her lobster pots. Benjamin’s eyes are opened by glimpses into a person he’s never bothered to know, and a world not his own.