Night Buddies – Book 4
Night Buddies and Evil School Bus #264

The Iguana Gang is back, and this time their trouble has wings. The iguanas have fitted out an old school bus for flying and are marauding around the Borough, dropping stink bombs, spraying green paint, and creating exactly the kind of chaos John and Crosley cannot ignore. Worse, the gang seems to have it in for anything connected to pineapple cheesecakes. John and his bright red crocodile buddy climb aboard their racing blimp for another Program, determined to uncover what the Iguana Gang is planning before their flying school bus causes even more trouble. Book 4 sends the Night Buddies back into the sky for a fast-moving adventure filled with humor, strange schemes, familiar enemies, friendship, and the unpredictable imagination of the Night Buddies world.

Series: Night Buddies

Series order: Book 4

Author: Sands Hetherington

Illustrator: Natalie Leininger

Publisher: Dune Buggy Press

Publication year: 2023

Paperback ISBN-13: 9780984741762

Paperback length: 156 pages

Published review guidance: The Children’s Book Review lists ages 7–12

Story focus: Iguana Gang, flying school bus, stink bombs, green paint, racing blimp, and another Borough-wide Program

The Iguana Gang has caused problems for John and Crosley before, but an airborne school bus gives their latest scheme a whole new level of trouble. The bus can fly, fire stink bombs, spray green paint, and carry the gang across the Borough as they collect roadkill for their bizarre guandoo puddin’ and target people and places connected to pineapple cheesecakes. John and Crosley have to follow the clues, survive the chaos, and figure out how to stop the bus before the iguanas’ plan gets completely out of hand.

— The Iguana Gang returns as the central threat.
— A flying school bus becomes the story’s major new machine.
— John and Crosley return to the sky in their racing blimp.
— The action includes stink bombs, green paint, strange food, and Borough-wide trouble.
— Natalie Leininger illustrates Book 4, giving this installment a new visual contributor.
— The story continues the series’ mix of friendship, fantasy, humor, mystery, invented language, and absurd problem-solving.

Wayne S. Walker “Home School Book Review” (5 stars): “Have you ever eaten a pineapple cheesecake? John Degraffenreidt is a young city kid who doesn’t want to go to bed. He had eaten so much pineapple cheesecake that his dad was afraid that he might get sick. After his parents leave him alone in his room, he hears some strange noises and sees a light beam squirting out from underneath his bed, and out comes a wacky red crocodile in a yellow suit named Crosley who has an astonishing and inventive collection of magical whatchamacallits on his belt. He likes pineapple cheesecake too, and the reason he has come is to enlist John’s aid in joining the Night Buddies and solving a mystery. All the pineapple cheesecakes from the world’s only pineapple cheesecake factory are disappearing.” Read more…
— Kathi Macias, award-winning author of more than 30 books including Special Delivery (Freedom Series)

---

Young readers who want nonstop action-packed scenes and scenarioswhich are completely unpredictable will find Night Buddies and Evil School Bus #264 captivating and rich in both its descriptions and twists of plot . . . Libraries seeking stories that invite young readers to expand their imaginations as well as their reading skills will find Night Buddies and Evil School Bus #264 the perfect choice for an engaging, completely unpredictable adventure.  –D. DONOVAN, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review