A children’s book series by Francesca Lombardo
Beatrice and the London Bus
Beatrice is nine and she wants to drive a London bus. Then she meets RM 168 via Waterloo — a Routemaster in a bowler hat that only people with a very big imagination can hear.
“Top Ten Children’s Books About London” — London Mums Magazine
Once upon a time, in a far, far away land…
…which turns out to be London. Three books about friendship, stubbornness and the kind of imagination that makes buildings talk.
The dream
She wants to drive a bus
Not a ballerina, not a pop star. Beatrice is nine and she wants to drive a London bus — which is awkward when your mum is a professional dream-flusher.
The friend
A Routemaster who talks back
RM 168 via Waterloo wears a bowler hat, grumbles about tourists and can only be heard by people with an enormous imagination. Beatrice is one of them.
The city
A London nobody else can see
Every Sunday the Bus shows her a city where telephone boxes lose their phones, palaces have feelings and the London Eye goes on fun-strike.
The series
Three books, one very talkative bus
Start at the beginning or jump on wherever you like — every volume is a complete adventure across a London that only Beatrice can hear.
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Beatrice and the London Bus
Where the dream starts
Once upon a time… in a far, far away land. Nine-year-old Beatrice has a dream — she wants to be a bus driver. But it is not easy when your…
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Beatrice and the London Bus — The Secrets of London
The Secrets of London
Beatrice has a secret — many secrets, actually, and she keeps them all to herself apart from a few she shares with her best friend Mark. Every Sunday she sets…
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Beatrice and the London Bus — The Conquest of London
The Conquest of London
After the misadventure at Hampton Court Palace, the London Bus swears he will never drive into a building again. But when the Queen sends them both an invitation to tea…
The cast
Who you’ll meet on board
A dreamer, a Routemaster with a bowler hat, a best friend called Mark and a cat who once made the front page.
News
What’s happening on the route
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A Halloween volume is on the way
Francesca is writing a Halloween edition of the series. Fog on the Thames, a bus that will not go past the cemetery, and at…
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Where to start: a reading order for Beatrice and the London Bus
Three volumes, one omnibus and a common question from parents in bookshops: which one do we buy first? Here is the short answer and…
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Invite Francesca to your school: how author visits work
Forty to sixty minutes, Years 2 to 5, a reading and a workshop on inventing a character out of something you walk past every…
The author
Francesca Lombardo
Francesca is a journalist and writer who lives and works in London. After a Master’s in journalism at the London College of Communication she was an editor at Ink Publishing and worked as a freelance print and television journalist, interviewing film and A-list talent and reporting on the overseas property market.
Her work has appeared in the Financial Times, the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, The Telegraph, the Sunday Business Post, the Sunday Times, the Sunday Express, Repubblica and Vogue. She is the author of the children’s series Beatrice and the London Bus, and is currently writing its Halloween edition.
Coming soon
A Halloween volume is on the way
Francesca is writing a Halloween edition of the series. Expect fog on the Thames, a bus that refuses to go past the cemetery, and at least one very cross cactus.
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