Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
“[Raschka's] marvelous sequences, fluid style, and emotional intelligence capture all of the momentum and exhilaration of this glorious accomplishment,” raves School Library Journal in a starred review.
Learning to ride a bike is one of the most important milestones of childhood, and no one captures the emotional ups and downs of the experience better than Chris Raschka, who won the 2012 Caldecott Medal for A Ball for Daisy. In this simple yet emotionally rich "guide," a father takes his daughter through all the steps in the process—from choosing the perfect bicycle to that triumphant first successful ride. Using very few words and lots of expressive pictures, here is a picture book that not only shows kids how to learn to ride, but captures what it feels like to fall . . . get up . . . fall again . . . and finally "by luck, grace, and determination" ride a bicycle!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Two-time Caldecott Medalist Raschka (A Ball for Daisy) crafts an encouraging, artful, and eminently practical approach to a childhood rite of passage: learning to ride a bike. Freewheeling watercolors feature a balding man perhaps an older father or grandfather and a cautious girl in a blue, watermelon-size helmet. The calm adult offers reassurance, pointing out all-ages bicycle commuters: "Watch everyone ride. They all learned how." He adjusts the training wheels ("If we raise them up a smidge, you'll begin to feel your balance"), and a pictorial sequence shows the girl's wobbly progress. They then remove the training wheels, resulting in some spills ("Oops! You nearly had it"). The girl grows disappointed, and her helper responds with an understanding hug. By the finale, the girl joins other riders in a park, all shaped by light, translucent pools of color. Raschka's breezy conclusion ("You are riding a bicycle! And now you'll never forget how") brings to mind a familiar saying. Adults will close the book with a lump in their throats, children with a firm sense of purpose. Ages 4 8.
