The Girl and the Bicycle
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
From the creator of The Boy and the Airplane, a touching wordless picture book about a little girl, a shiny bicycle, and the meaning of persistence—with an unexpected payoff.
A little girl sees a shiny new bicycle in the shop window. She hurries home to see if she has enough money in her piggy bank, but when she comes up short, she knocks on the doors of her neighbors, hoping to do their yardwork. They all turn her away except for a kindly old woman.
The woman and the girl work through the seasons, side by side. They form a tender friendship. When the weather warms, the girl finally has enough money for the bicycle. She runs back to the store, but the bicycle is gone! What happens next shows the reward of hard work and the true meaning of generosity.
Wordless, timeless, and classic, The Girl and the Bicycle carries a message of selflessness and sweet surprises and makes an ideal gift for graduations and other special occasions.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As in The Boy and the Airplane, Pett's sepia-tinted drawings draw little attention to themselves in this companion book, quietly supporting his wordless story in a way that allows it to unfold smoothly. The girl of the title, often seen with her younger brother in tow, spots a bicycle in the window of a toy store and resolves to buy it. In a moment typical of Pett's understated comedy, she thinks hard about how to earn enough money while her brother sits on the floor with the family cat on his head. The girl knocks on doors and finds an older woman living alone; together, they do yard work through the winter and into the spring. When at last she goes to buy the bicycle, it's gone. In a moment that would be saccharine if not made credible by the story's Jimmy Stewart esque underpinnings, she uses the money to buy her brother a tricycle (Her hard work doesn't go unacknowledged, though.) It's not easy to celebrate simple virtues in an age of irony, but Pett succeeds. All ages.
