Patricia Brace of Sedan doesn’t consider herself to be a big-time author — just a pretty good school bus driver.That’s why her new book, “My First Ride On A School Bus,” is so very real, and quite informative to anyone planning to ride one.

Brace drives a bus for USD 286, picking up and delivering students who live in the Chautauqua and Elgin areas.

Although she has only been driving for the local school system since 2004, this is her 40th year as a professional driver. She drove buses in Illinois and Mississippi before she and her husband, Don, retired from the farm and moved to Sedan. It only took a couple of months of retirement before she started to miss the kids of those buses, and the joy of getting them safely to school and back home each day.

The Braces have six grown children: Kristie Purnell and Paul Brace, Kankakee, Ill., Donita Cupit and Donna Morris, both of Sedan, and Debie Terrell and Roberta Porch, both of Golconda, Ill.

“I’m known for being strict,” she said. “I’ve got rules that everyone must follow — you do it my way when you’re on my bus.

”Still, the kids love her and she knows them all by first names.She came up with the idea for writing a small book because so many children and their parents don’t know anything about the rules of bus riding.“

It’s made for small hands,” she said, noting the “My First Ride On a School Bus” is printed in a small format. The book tells how to be friendly, how to greet your driver, and where to wait for the bus. It tells when to get on the bus (after it has stopped and doors are open) and it tells how to behave when students are seated.

The book tells how students must never cross behind a bus and it gives examples of accident drills. An example of good bus-riding rules: “The driver will raise his hand at the railroad. This means you must be quiet until the bus is across the tracks. This is so he can hear if any trains are coming and if it is safe to cross.”

Brace hopes many of her first-time students can get copies in order to make their bus-riding experiences good ones.

“My First Ride on A School Bus” sells for $1.25 and can be purchased by emailing the author at: “thebigyellowbus@sbcglobal.net.” She also can be readed at 620 725-3488.

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