Precious Cargo: My Year Driving the Kids on School Bus 3077 by Craig Davidson

Canada Reads is like the Stanley Cup for book lovers. Every March, CBC Radio picks five books which are defended by five well-known Canadians in an epic battle for the title of the one book everyone in Canada should read. This year’s theme is One Book to Open Your Eyes. Craig Davidson, the author of Precious Cargo: My Year Driving the Kids on School Bus 3077, which is one of the five contenders in this year’s Canada Reads, will be at Waverley Library tomorrow evening at 7:00 pm.  CBC Thunder Bay’s Cathy Alex will chat with Craig, as well as local school bus driver, Dylynn Kempton and student Kendal-Lynn Douglas, about some of themes raised in Davidson’s story. Having read quite a few poorly written memoirs, I was blown away by the quality of writing in Precious Cargo. The detailed descriptions and literary prose draw the reader into life on the bus route, and into the lives of the students Davidson came to know. Each student on school bus 3077 faced incredible obstacles in their young lives — some physical, some psychological, and some both. As a writer faced with his own obstacles at the time, Davidson found both creative and personal inspiration on the bus. Precious Cargo is sprinkled with excerpts from a science fiction book Davidson was writing around the same time. They seemed out of place to me at first, but when I reached the last one they made perfect sense. You’re invited to join Cathy Alex in her conversation with Craig Davidson, Dylynn Kempton and Kendal-Lynn Douglas at 7 p.m., on Monday March 5th at the Waverley Auditorium — no registration required, everyone welcome!