---
title: "What reviewers are saying about SUMMER ON THE SHORT BUS..."
url: https://bethanycrandell.com/p/blog-page
description: "Reviewer praise for Bethany Crandell's Summer on the Short Bus."
published: 2026-05-05
updated: 2026-05-05
---

# What reviewers are saying about SUMMER ON THE SHORT BUS...

Published 2026-05-05

Applause!

### Publishers Weekly

"Uncomfortable moments, unflinchingly conveyed, are gingerly balanced with a sense of humor. Crandell creates a maddening yet sympathetic character in Cricket, who is realistically slow to learn her lessons in compassion and human kindness."

### Booklist

"[Cricket's] growth is a reminder that acceptance of others is hard work, but good work, too."

### Kirkus Reviews

"...refreshingly unsaccharine..."

### Feathered Quill

"Crandell creates a wonderful and relatable protagonist with Cricket but even better than that, she surrounds her with equally relatable, flawed, and real characters...This book is an absolute winner!"