Precious Cargo

My Year of Driving the Kids on School Bus 3077

By: Craig Davidson

Narrated by: John Cleland

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

For readers of Andrew Solomon's Far From the Tree and Ian Brown's The Boy in the Moon, here is a heartfelt, funny and surprising memoir about one year spent driving a bus full of children with special needs.

One morning in 2008, desperate, broke and living alone while trying unsuccessfully to write, Craig Davidson plucked a flyer out of his mailbox that read “Bus Drivers Wanted.” And so began his new career: driving a school bus for kids with special needs.

Fortified with a sense of humour similar to that of his charges, a creative approach to the challenge of driving an awkward vehicle while corralling a rowdy gang of schoolchildren, and unexpected reserves of empathy, Davidson takes us along for the ride. He shows us his evolving relationship with each of the kids on that bus as they struggle physically, emotionally and socially, and he gradually reveals the much bigger world he imagines might exist outside the bus—a world with potential for both himself and his charges.

Precious Cargo is a moving and universal story about how we see and treat people with special needs in our society.

Critic reviews

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

2018 CANADA READS FINALIST

“Craig Davidson’s Precious Cargo [is] an almost singular accomplishment—a work of non-fiction that’s a pleasure to read, despite being about an able-bodied man who decides to hang out with disabled people. The book’s skillfulness shouldn’t be a surprise. Toronto-born Davidson is an accomplished novelist: his most recent, Cataract City, was shortlisted for the Giller prize while his first book of stories, Rust and Bone, became a harrowing Golden Globes-nominated film. . . . [He] knows how to kick a story along. . . . Davidson has a sharp ear for dialogue, and the conversations he has on the bus are the best parts of his book.” —Ian Brown, The Globe and Mail

“Precious Cargo . . . is a thoroughly entertaining, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a writer. . . . Precious Cargo is the best kind of memoir: light-hearted despite its often serious content, erudite, eye-opening, and thought-provoking. It’s also damned funny.” —Quill & Quire

“From the start, this book is unique. . . . Precious Cargo is a tale of growth and redemption. . . . [Precious Cargo] is shot through with images both uproarious . . . and tender-hearted. Together, they depict Davidson’s unsentimental education, and offer insight on how best to suffer life’s slings and arrows.” —Maclean’s

“[Precious Cargo is a] remarkably uplifting memoir. . . . At its essence, Precious Cargo is an anthem to self-acceptance.” —Toronto Star

“Craig Davidson’s new memoir reveals poignant truths about his year as a Calgary school-bus driver. . . . [Precious Cargo mixes] personal revelation with a sweet and often funny story about [Davidson’s] bond with the five children on his route. . . . Davidson’s portrayal of himself is often comically self-deprecating and always witheringly honest.” —Eric Volmers, Calgary Herald

“The normally hard-hitting Craig Davidson shifts gears into more tender and uplifting territory with his memoir. . . . Davidson doesn’t sugar-coat anything—[which is] perhaps the memoir’s greatest strength. . . . [A] welcome dose of positivity, handled with just as much skill as you’d expect from a writer of this calibre.” —Winnipeg Free Press