Marin (of Cheech and Chong fame) follows his bestselling children’s album, My Name Is Cheech, the School Bus Driver
, with a similarly titled first children’s book. In it, bus driver Cheech’s passengers are a group of mariachi-playing students who plan to enter a Battle of the Bands contest. Insecurities surface after Cheech drives the musicians to the contest and they see the gimmicks of several other bands. Worried that they don’t stand a chance, the racially diverse Cheecharrones (in a nod to Marin’s nickname) practice amplifying their music and dressing in crazy costumes, though nothing seems quite right for them. With Cheech narrating in the first person, older readers familiar with the actor should hear his gravelly voice coming through in comments like, “Groovanova!” and “I am a really, really, really, really
good bus driver. I always get to school on time, and I never, ever, ever, ever
get lost.” (The next spread shows his bus at a lonely desert intersection. “Well, almost
never,” he admits.) Ramírez, in his debut children’s book, paints the characters in caricature style and does a fine job depicting Cheech’s zany, startled expressions. When the mariachi band members finally take the stage, they learn that being themselves and playing their own style of music proves a winning strategy—a worthy, if oft-told, lesson. Ages 4-8. (July)
