A line of children marched out of the doors of Westshore Elementary school and made a beeline to the bright yellow bus with eyelashes.
“Good morning!” Jennifer Frances shouted with a handful of bookmarks. The children grinned.
This is a common scene for Frances. She’s been taking her bus, affectionately named Bess The Book Bus, around the nation for a decade.
“I just feel grateful to be out here doing this,” she said as kids bounced up into her bus full of books.
Frances got the idea to start a traveling book bus in 2003. She painted her own vehicle and started traveling locally to distribute books to kids who may not be able to afford them. Teachers loved her because it helped get kids interested in reading. Frances loved it because she got to share her love of books with others.
“Today was the day they all came in excited that they got to go on the bus,” said Westshore teacher Marissa Grayem. “They look forward to her coming.”
2018 marks the 10-year anniversary of taking Bess nationwide. Last year, Frances estimates 47,000 kids stepped foot on her bus to pick out a book. She’s visited every state except Alaska and Hawai’I with Bess. This year, she expects to visit as far west as Oregon and as far north as Maine.
During March, Frances worked with CITGO Fueling Good and 19 Miss America ladies in their home states to give away over 20,000 books as part of her 2nd Annual National Reading Month event.
All the books on the bus are donated by various publishers. Mercedes Benz donated Bess to Frances a few years ago. She’s already racked up over 170,000 miles on the bus.
“For me, the best part of this is just seeing the joy on the kids' faces when they pick out their new books,” she said, surrounded by kids on the cramped bus. “I get to see them grow as readers and that’s really cool.”
Frances says the bus is named for her grandmother, Bess. Frances' 2-year-old cousin had a hard time saying, “Bess". It sounded more like “Bus”. It was the perfect name for her library on wheels. Bess introduced Frances to books as a child.
The 2018 Bess The Book Bus itinerary begins May 7 in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Frances hopes to reach 50,000 kids this year. 20,000 of those will be in Tampa Bay alone.
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