I won a copy of this through First Reads, and I couldn't resist reading it straight away! It's a very quick read, only took me maybe less than an hour to get through... and I was charmed the entire time :D And sad when it was over, far too soon! I want more!
Based on a true adventure of the author's, it's very simply written, and the tale itself is also made into such a delightfully simple one. Young Tom, caught daydreaming in maths class about distant lands, blurts out that he's going to go around the world one day. Later on, everyone is laughing about how he'll never do it... and he exclaims that he will do it - right now, and by bicycle! Which of course makes everyone laugh even more and tell him he can't do it. Which of course makes Tom even more determined. There's such a lovely message here of how you can do anything you want, if you just believe in yourself and put your heart into actually doing it.
When Tom tells his parents that he's going to go off around the world on his bike, they don't laugh - Dad offers to pack him some sandwiches, Mum tells him to make a list of what he needs to bring. You think that they're just humouring him, like the parents who help pack the runaway's suitcase for them... but they're not! The next day they wave him goodbye, pointing him in the direction of Africa. See? All very simple and cute! And so Tom sets off, cycling over to the English channel, getting a ferry to France, and then cycling down through Europe, the Middle East, and the entire length of Africa. We're not told how old he is (as far as I can remember, at least) but he's made to sound pretty young, and of course this is all an impossible - not to mention dangerous! - thing for a kid to be doing. But the book isn't about that. It's just the tale of him doing it and it's such a lovely adventure if you don't think too hard about the practical side of things... setting up a tent in a foreign country, not speaking the language or knowing the customs, cycling across a desert and not dying of heat-stroke, crossing dangerous borders, having enough money, not getting kidnapped by child-traffickers...
Anyone who knows me know that I love to travel, and this is the sort of thing that I would love to do - but I'm grown up enough to think about the practical side of things. Plus, I'm a girl. I could NOT go that long without a proper shower :P But wouldn't it be lovely to just pack up a few things and set off, and rely on nothing but the kindness of strangers and your own strength? What a dream!
Along Tom's journey we learn a little of the local cultures as well, my favourite part being when he stopped with Abai's family in Ethiopa, sharing a meal with them. I loved the diary entries with his own facts and so on about the places he had been to. And I love that there's a page in the back where you can list all the places that you would like to visit and why :D What a perfect place for me to get down my own list in writing!
I keep changing this between five stars and four... can't decide. It's younger than I generally like to read and very short - but it is also absolutely gorgeous and there is more on the way. I really think I will have to stick with a five.