Bicycle Race

by Donald Crews

A counting book
for the youngest --
filled with motion,
excitement, and
suspense. Twelve
riders compete
in a bicycle race.
Who will win?
(A word to the
Keep your eye
on Number 9!)

Genres: Picture Books, Mathematics, Childrens, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 21, 1985

About the author

Donald Crews (born August 30, 1938) is an American illustrator and writer of children's picture books. In 2015, the American Library Association (ALA) honored him with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, recognizing his lasting contribution to children's literature. Common subjects of his include modern technology (especially travel vehicles), and childhood memories. His stories often include few humans.

Two of his works were runners-up, or Caldecott Honor Books, for the ALA's annual award for picture book illustration, the Caldecott Medal.

Donald Crews was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1938. He had an older brother, Asa who became Beth Israel Hospital's first African-American intern, and two sisters. His mother worked as a seamstress, and his father worked at the railroad, and several other odd jobs. For the summers he would travel down to rural Florida to stay with his grandmother, who he called "Bigmama". The difference between the big city and the farm caused him to create two, massively different types of art later on in his life.

From a young age, his talent for drawing was encouraged by his family and his teachers. When he got into high school, one of his teachers became a mentor to him, and personally made sure that he got into art school.

He graduated from Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City, and married another graduate, graphic artist Ann Jonas.

Crews was drafted into the army in 1963, and sent to Frankfurt, Germany. Their first daughter, Nina was born in Germany, and their second was born a year later in New York. Nina is also an award-winning children's book author.

While in Germany, he worked on several pieces for his portfolio, including the book We Read: A to Z (1967). After several suggestions from friends, he submitted it, and it was published by Harper & Row (now HarperCollins). The book relied on abstract ideas, rather than the clichés that were usually associated with ABC books. One classic example is the entry for the letter C: "Cc, corner: where the yellow is" is illustrated with a yellow square in the far corner of a red page in the book.

He created several other books over the next few years, but it was 1978's Freight Train that won him a Caldecott Honor and the respect of other artists in the field. He won another Caldecott Honor the next year for Truck. Several other transportation themed books followed, such as School Bus (1984), Flying (1986), and Sail Away (1995). His memories from his summers in Florida first appeared in Bigmama's and later in Shortcut. These stories are vastly different from his previous works, in that they focus on humans, and tell a more linear story.

Crews and his wife currently live in the state of New York in an old, restored farmhouse overlooking the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains.

Reviews

[Igor · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son enjoyed the race while I tried to make he memorize the numbers.

[Janie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My LO is apparently a major major Donald Crews fan right now and Bicycle Race may be the winner. LO loves numerals, loves rainbows, loves ordering, and loves ordering numerals and rainbows. This is a book crazy with number, color, and playful scrambling of order.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to both preschoolers and kids as old as 9. They all liked it. In fact, I think I liked it better for the older kids. But either way, the excitement of the story wasn't lost on any of the groups.

[Madyson Dalton]

intriguing story for young readers
-counting for interactive story line
-vivid colors in illustrations

[Gala · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a number picture book. The numbers are in different reading order because of the place or position the racers were in. It was nice to see that number nine won the race after having problems with her bike. This book can be used in a prek-1 grade to learn to identify numbers. Students can use toy cars or bikes to role play with the numbers like in the book.

[Benjamin Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting format, great use of the numbers and counting to tell a narrative, even if it was quite predictable once you saw what was going on. I like to see creative ideas like this. However, the charm of the style and format is also what made it completely inappropriate as a read-aloud story, which is what I was looking for when I ran across it.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the bicycle race today twelve bicyclists are competing. Each is a different color, bright as a lollipop. When they pass a lake, their reflections merge into a delicious scamble. Crews has told an eye-filling story with the simplest of materials.

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

While we generally enjoy Donald Crews' books, this one was not one of our favorites.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting counting book, we were routing for #9 from the beginning.

[Katelyn Warner · Rating 3 out of 5]

* Fiction
* Individual reader
* Numbers
* Maybe Kindergarten or below
* Number recognition, not sequence

[Miles Yoshitake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emphasis on numbers

[Michelle Farella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't see using this in a storytime :-/

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is NOT a counting book. It would be good for identifying numbers as they're on the bicyclists' jerseys (although 9 is missing on many pages).