Published by HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks on 2025 Format: Picture Book Fiction
Source: MSL Book Review
Is the bike big? Or is it little? Showing that it all depends on one’s perspective, the bike is in search of a rider from the opening pages where a curious pigeon wearing a bow tie decides to give the sparkling new single-speed bike with a “FREE” sign propped against it, a try. There is a “wibble”, a “wobble” and a “whoops”; the pigeon decides that the bike is too big and bids it adieu.
The bike’s journey continues through a variety of animals (rhinoceros, cheetah, turtle, etc.) with personalities shared through their charming accessories and responses to the bike, before and after they ride. Each experience contains amusing alliteration, onomatopoeia and a goodbye to the bike. With every new rider, the bike is transformed from a brand new two-wheeler to one salvaged from the bottom of a pond (minus a wheel) and restored by a resourceful man with brown skin and locs.
The bike is claimed by a girl with light brown skin and brown hair, who realizes that the bike is just right for her, as she begins by riding the bike with training wheels. We watch her ditch the training wheels, as she gets older, sharing many adventures with her bike until she outgrows it. But the bike’s adventures aren’t over yet, as it is refurbished once more, and discovered by another child, with fair skin and reddish hair. The last illustration shows the child riding off on the bike with the pigeon from the first illustration in the bike basket.
The simple, rhythmic language and delightful illustrations express the pleasure, freedom, and adventure that only a bike can provide for a child. The illustrations are rendered in digital pastels and convey the energy, action and dynamism this story requires.
This story is a great conversation started about perspective and point of view or to lure children to the open road via two-wheels in May, during National Bike Month. Highly recommended for public and school libraries.
Deanna Contrino, SLMS
K-2 Resource Librarian, Scarborough Schools