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Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle #1
The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle
Selected for the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A determined 12-year-old girl bikes across the country to meet her idol. She's ready for an adventure-- but she can't imagine all the surprises in store.
Introverted Bicycle has lived most of her life at the Mostly Silent Monastery in Washington, D.C.-- and she likes it that way. But when her guardian, Sister Wanda, announces that Bicycle is going to attend a camp where she will learn to make friends, Bicycle says no way. Determined to prove she can make friends on her own, she sets off on her bike for San Francisco to meet her idol, a famous cyclist, certain he will be her first true friend.
Who knew that a ghost would haunt her handlebars and that she would have to contend with bike-hating dogs, a bike-loving horse, bike-crushing pigs, and a mysterious lady dressed in black. Over the uphills and downhills of her journey, Bicycle discovers that friends are not such a bad thing to have after all, and that a dozen cookies really can solve most problems.
For more quirky middle-grade fun, don't miss Colossus of Roads, also by Christina Uss!
A Junior Library Guild Selection!
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A determined 12-year-old girl bikes across the country to meet her idol. She's ready for an adventure-- but she can't imagine all the surprises in store.
Introverted Bicycle has lived most of her life at the Mostly Silent Monastery in Washington, D.C.-- and she likes it that way. But when her guardian, Sister Wanda, announces that Bicycle is going to attend a camp where she will learn to make friends, Bicycle says no way. Determined to prove she can make friends on her own, she sets off on her bike for San Francisco to meet her idol, a famous cyclist, certain he will be her first true friend.
Who knew that a ghost would haunt her handlebars and that she would have to contend with bike-hating dogs, a bike-loving horse, bike-crushing pigs, and a mysterious lady dressed in black. Over the uphills and downhills of her journey, Bicycle discovers that friends are not such a bad thing to have after all, and that a dozen cookies really can solve most problems.
For more quirky middle-grade fun, don't miss Colossus of Roads, also by Christina Uss!
A Junior Library Guild Selection!
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2018
83 people are currently reading
1361 people want to read
About the author
Christina Uss
6 books55 followersChristina Uss has ridden her bicycle across the United States both lengthwise and widthwise, and has worked as an adventure tour guide in fifteen states, leading cyclists of all ages through various mountains’ majesty and all kinds of fruited plains.
Even more than pedaling across state lines, Christina loves books, especially ones that remind us all that the world is wonderful, weird place. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her family and will always wave hello if she sees you out riding.
Even more than pedaling across state lines, Christina loves books, especially ones that remind us all that the world is wonderful, weird place. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her family and will always wave hello if she sees you out riding.
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December 23, 2023Sandwich.
April 28, 2018
I wish I could give this book six stars. It is a Master Class in how to write a book that ages 8-14 will thoroughly enjoy (and older, including adults, because of the wonderful writing). The writing is so clever (!), the characters are highly entertaining, and the entire premise is adventuresome and yet charming at the same time. It is a really funny book - sometimes laugh-out-loud -- to the point that I found myself reading passages aloud to anyone who would listen. I was immediately attached to Bicycle and stuck with her as she tried to bicycle cross-country. The best part is how Bicycle sets out on a mission that would normally be fraught with danger, but the author makes it a wonderful fantasy that blends fun with frustrating challenges. Since I don't normally read fantasy, I was pleasantly surprised at how I happily buzzed right through it. I am so glad I received an ARC to review because I enjoyed every second.
And oh -- Sandwich!
And oh -- Sandwich!
November 2, 2018
The term “quirky” has gotten a bad rap recently. I blamed forced quirk. Have you ever read or watched something where the book or movie is just trying too darn hard to make you fall in love with the story? Happens all the time, my friend. You see, lots of folks mistake “goofy” or “incongruous” with true quirkiness. Then there’s the fact that poorly done quirk wears out its welcome pretty quickly. Sustained quirk is an artform. It makes an agreement with the consumer to suspend just the right amount of disbelief. Suspend too much and you’ve tipped into magical realism. Suspend too little and the entertainment you’re attempting to consume just feels kind of sad. And if you had told me that a professional bicyclist / bike writer would straddle that line with great aplomb, I would have been skeptical. Happily, the world does not check in with me first when books of this sort get published. The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle isn’t all that normal. That’s the good news. The better news is that the book is also a hoot and a half. Filled to brimming with a good smattering of healthy quirk, it’s a quixotic quest book, a paean to the American landscape, and there are pigs. What else could you want?
When you’re raised with Mostly Silent Monks you’re going to be different from other kids. That's Bicycle for you. Abandoned at the monastery when she was just a small child, wearing an oversized bicycle t-shirt, the girl has been mostly brought up by the kind, but no-nonsense, ex-Nearly Silent Nun, Sister Wanda. Now Wanda has decided that after all her years of homeschooling, Bicycle needs some real friends. She aims to send the child off to a camp to help her do just that, not knowing the girl has other plans in mind. She’s just discovered that her idol, the famous cyclist Zbig Sienkiewicz, will be in San Francisco for a Blessing of the Bikes. Convinced that he should be her friend, she sets off to bike from the east coast to the west. What she doesn’t count on is that she’ll need to contend with adoring horses, pigs, ghosts, sentient machines, men in chicken suits, and more along the way. Fortunately, it may turn out that there’s more than one way to make a friend. Sometimes you just need to listen.
I’m married to a guy who spends a lot of time dissecting stories to figure out why they work. He wrote a book on the subject and seems to know what he’s talking about. One bit of his advice came to mind as I read Bicycle. He says that when you have a hero, it’s a very good thing if they solve their own problems by utilizing some kind of a “special skill” acquired when they were younger. Like when Luke Skywalker says shooting into the Death Star is possible because he used to shoot tiny womp rats when he was young. In the case of this book, Bicycle has a special skill of her own. More than once she discovers that careful listening, something she picked up from the monks, is actually a very smart way of dealing with other people. Time and again, Uss weaves together the plotlines and threads of her story in a smart, succinct way. It's tricky with quixotic quests to keep the main character learning and growing, while also keeping everything moving along the way. Uss tackles that trickiness with the skill of a seasoned professional.
Bicycle’s quest is an interesting one, since it harkens back to a lot of classic works of literature. The hero sets out to do something and encounters a wide range of characters along the way, some good, some bad. But like Ramona Quimby, I was always one of those kids that got hung up on the unspoken details. Like, if a 12-year-old is biking across the country then (A) where is she going to get food and (B) where is she going to go to the bathroom? The second question isn’t all that dire (let’s just say there are a lot of wooded groves in this great big country of ours), but the first is unavoidable. Uss finds a wide variety of clever solutions to solve that query and while I did occasionally find them a teensy bit too convenient, who cares? At least there are a couple working theories out there.
So here’s the kicker. The book clocks in at a healthy 307 pages or so, but flies as you read it. It’s fun with a lot of humor to it. And yes, it’s about a girl obsessed with bicycles, but you don’t have to love them to enjoy the book. There are high points, and low points. Grand adventures and strange occurrences. It would be a fantastic readaloud for a class or at bedtime, but I can also see kids picking it up and enjoying it on their own. Long story short, it’s a pip. The kind of book I read a review copy of and then really wanted to own. I don’t say that about a lot of books, and I can’t wait to read this one to my daughter when she’s just a little bit older. Sometimes you need a book for kids that as funny as it is fun. This title fits the bill. Darned enjoyable.
For ages 9-12.
When you’re raised with Mostly Silent Monks you’re going to be different from other kids. That's Bicycle for you. Abandoned at the monastery when she was just a small child, wearing an oversized bicycle t-shirt, the girl has been mostly brought up by the kind, but no-nonsense, ex-Nearly Silent Nun, Sister Wanda. Now Wanda has decided that after all her years of homeschooling, Bicycle needs some real friends. She aims to send the child off to a camp to help her do just that, not knowing the girl has other plans in mind. She’s just discovered that her idol, the famous cyclist Zbig Sienkiewicz, will be in San Francisco for a Blessing of the Bikes. Convinced that he should be her friend, she sets off to bike from the east coast to the west. What she doesn’t count on is that she’ll need to contend with adoring horses, pigs, ghosts, sentient machines, men in chicken suits, and more along the way. Fortunately, it may turn out that there’s more than one way to make a friend. Sometimes you just need to listen.
I’m married to a guy who spends a lot of time dissecting stories to figure out why they work. He wrote a book on the subject and seems to know what he’s talking about. One bit of his advice came to mind as I read Bicycle. He says that when you have a hero, it’s a very good thing if they solve their own problems by utilizing some kind of a “special skill” acquired when they were younger. Like when Luke Skywalker says shooting into the Death Star is possible because he used to shoot tiny womp rats when he was young. In the case of this book, Bicycle has a special skill of her own. More than once she discovers that careful listening, something she picked up from the monks, is actually a very smart way of dealing with other people. Time and again, Uss weaves together the plotlines and threads of her story in a smart, succinct way. It's tricky with quixotic quests to keep the main character learning and growing, while also keeping everything moving along the way. Uss tackles that trickiness with the skill of a seasoned professional.
Bicycle’s quest is an interesting one, since it harkens back to a lot of classic works of literature. The hero sets out to do something and encounters a wide range of characters along the way, some good, some bad. But like Ramona Quimby, I was always one of those kids that got hung up on the unspoken details. Like, if a 12-year-old is biking across the country then (A) where is she going to get food and (B) where is she going to go to the bathroom? The second question isn’t all that dire (let’s just say there are a lot of wooded groves in this great big country of ours), but the first is unavoidable. Uss finds a wide variety of clever solutions to solve that query and while I did occasionally find them a teensy bit too convenient, who cares? At least there are a couple working theories out there.
So here’s the kicker. The book clocks in at a healthy 307 pages or so, but flies as you read it. It’s fun with a lot of humor to it. And yes, it’s about a girl obsessed with bicycles, but you don’t have to love them to enjoy the book. There are high points, and low points. Grand adventures and strange occurrences. It would be a fantastic readaloud for a class or at bedtime, but I can also see kids picking it up and enjoying it on their own. Long story short, it’s a pip. The kind of book I read a review copy of and then really wanted to own. I don’t say that about a lot of books, and I can’t wait to read this one to my daughter when she’s just a little bit older. Sometimes you need a book for kids that as funny as it is fun. This title fits the bill. Darned enjoyable.
For ages 9-12.
July 12, 2018
This was honestly one of the most delightful books I've read--humor and heart and adventure and characters you can't help but love. Highly recommended.
January 25, 2018
This is a book that truly deserves the word "adventure" in its title! I loved the way the author created a quirky but realistic cast of characters, which will help readers suspend disbelief as they're carried along on this amazing bike trip. Coming summer 2018, this would make a great read for families on road trips.
April 5, 2018
What a lovely heart warming story. So much adventure with a large dash of hijinks. Funny and exciting, this was “real life fiction” with an addition of a splendid supernatural twist, fantastical characters and lots of American geography. Food is surprisingly played out in detail and Oh! and don’t forget the running of the pigs, something that made me laugh out loud.
I think what was really attractive to me was that there was a lot of hope in this book, a lot of positivity, a lot of joy. The world needs a lot more of all these things, and Christina Uss brings them in abundance.
Great for boys and girls alike, this book is perfect reading fun for 9/10/11 year olds! Watch out for it in the BBB summer suggestions and summer reading program!
I think what was really attractive to me was that there was a lot of hope in this book, a lot of positivity, a lot of joy. The world needs a lot more of all these things, and Christina Uss brings them in abundance.
Great for boys and girls alike, this book is perfect reading fun for 9/10/11 year olds! Watch out for it in the BBB summer suggestions and summer reading program!
April 7, 2018
Bicycle is a girl that will stick with you as you go about your day. I think I actually was more like her when I was her age, and wish I was more like her now. I simply love the various messages of this book, and you can't go wrong with encouraging kids to make friends and get outside!
June 5, 2018
I just couldn't get into this one. Nearly Silent Monks who say only eight words, one of which is "sandwich"? And that's just the tip of the iceberg. It's trying way, way too hard to be quirky.
August 10, 2018
Charming, inventive, and extremely enjoyable road novel--I was happy to follow Uss's plucky hero, Bicycle, on her ride from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco, and I'm hoping there are more journeys ahead. Thoughts of Pee-wee's Big Adventure kept coming to me as I turned the pages, though Uss's lyrical and lovely creation is all her own. The novel is whimsical without turning too cute, and the imaginative episodes with a benign ghost, a slow-food chef, a curious inventor, and many more kept me appreciatively amused. Kids should adore this book, which is unafraid to delve into deep waters--including the nature of friendship, the good will of strangers, and the role of luck in our lives. Uss even slips in a little Robert Frost. Here's hoping wanderlust strikes Bicycle again soon.
June 29, 2018
@kidlitexchange #partner
Thank you @kidlitexchange for the review copy of The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle! All opinions are my own.
I absolutely loved this book! A very young girl shows up at a Mostly Silent Monastery in Washington, D.C. wearing a shirt with a picture and the word “Bicycle” printed on it. Sister Wanda and the monks at the monastery call her Bicycle and raise her as their own. Sister Wanda home schools Bicycle who is a quick learner! One day while she’s out shopping with the monks, she spots an old rusty bike and buys it with her spare change. She fixes up the bike, names him Clunk, and rides him everywhere.
Sister Wanda decided that Bicycle needs to make more friends and signs her up for Summer Camp at the Friendship Factory. Bicycle wants no part of this, and plans her own adventure to bike across the country to meet her hero, Zbigniew Sienkiewicz.
When Bicycle escapes from the bus for the Friendship Factory, her journey begins! Bicycle will travel from Washington, D.C. to California, making friends and having many adventures along the way! She will let a ghost haunt her bike, help a French chef save her restaurant chain, almost get trampled by a parade of pigs, get stranded in Kansas, and so much more. Read this fascinating book to take an incredible journey with a 12 year old girl across the country! Will she meet Zbig, her hero? Will she make it to California? Will Sister Wanda find her? Read this wonderful book to find out!
I just loved each and every character in this book, from Bicycle, to Brother Otto, to Griffin G. Griffin, and even Fortune 713-J. I can’t wait to purchase this book for my classroom. Great debut novel from Christina Uss!
Thank you @kidlitexchange for the review copy of The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle! All opinions are my own.
I absolutely loved this book! A very young girl shows up at a Mostly Silent Monastery in Washington, D.C. wearing a shirt with a picture and the word “Bicycle” printed on it. Sister Wanda and the monks at the monastery call her Bicycle and raise her as their own. Sister Wanda home schools Bicycle who is a quick learner! One day while she’s out shopping with the monks, she spots an old rusty bike and buys it with her spare change. She fixes up the bike, names him Clunk, and rides him everywhere.
Sister Wanda decided that Bicycle needs to make more friends and signs her up for Summer Camp at the Friendship Factory. Bicycle wants no part of this, and plans her own adventure to bike across the country to meet her hero, Zbigniew Sienkiewicz.
When Bicycle escapes from the bus for the Friendship Factory, her journey begins! Bicycle will travel from Washington, D.C. to California, making friends and having many adventures along the way! She will let a ghost haunt her bike, help a French chef save her restaurant chain, almost get trampled by a parade of pigs, get stranded in Kansas, and so much more. Read this fascinating book to take an incredible journey with a 12 year old girl across the country! Will she meet Zbig, her hero? Will she make it to California? Will Sister Wanda find her? Read this wonderful book to find out!
I just loved each and every character in this book, from Bicycle, to Brother Otto, to Griffin G. Griffin, and even Fortune 713-J. I can’t wait to purchase this book for my classroom. Great debut novel from Christina Uss!
March 10, 2018
Fantastical, fun and heart-warming
September 14, 2018
A debut novel and a “quirky” novel and falls a little into the pitfalls of both. Despite that, this book is hard not to like.
July 2, 2018
Bicycle is dropped off as a 3-year-old orphan at the Mostly Silent Monastery in Washington D.C. No one knows where she came from. So, the strict, no-nonsense head nun of the monastery, Sister Wanda decides to become her guardian, and cares for her wisely. Deciding to home school her, Bicycle (named for the T-shirt she is wearing when she's dropped off at the monastery) proves to be a very sharp girl. She soon becomes a favorite of the monks, who are only allowed to utter eight words, yes, no, maybe, help, now, late, sleep, and lastly sandwich. It is a quiet, calm place for a young girl, until on her way back from grocery shopping with Brother Otto, her favorite "not so silent monk," they come across an old orange bike for sale, which Bicycle purchases for a bargain. She names her bike Clunk. Bicycle has found her passion and delights in pedaling around on Clunk. At the same time, Sister Wanda realizes that quiet Bicycle needs friends her own age. Unfortunately, whenever she arranges playdates Bicycle ignores her guests. At her wits end, Sister Wanda signs her up for a camp called "The Friendship Factory." Horrified, Bicycle makes clandestine plans involving a bike trip across the country on Clunk to meet her bicycle hero, named Zbigniew Sienkiewicz, the most famous bicyclist in the world. This exciting bicycle adventure takes the reader through deserts, the Continental Divide, and the Kentucky Derby, to name just a few of their many destinations. Surprisingly, Bicycle has the uncanny ability to make friends when necessary, and the resilience to work through life threatening challenges. This is not an easy going journey, and many of her adventures involve unbelievable, bigger than life experiences. Bicycle adventures aren't plentiful in children's literature, and this one is unpredictable, and highly entertaining. Readers might have the desire to spend more time outdoors on bikes, learn to read maps, and discover some of the impressive natural wonders across the U.S.A. that Bicycle discovers on her bike. A must buy for all upper elementary library collections.
June 21, 2019
"The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle" has it all-adventure, humor, drama, information and so, so much heart. Bicycle has been raised by residents of a "mostly silent" order in a monastery in Washington, D.C. She, naturally, chooses to speak very little until her desire to meet her cycling hero launches her onto a two-wheeled quest to San Francisco. She meets a wide variety of characters along her well-researched route and each one of those contributes to her personal growth and the entertainment of readers age 9 and up. Christina Uss does a masterful job of keeping her novel light-hearted and yet full of meaningful lessons on friendship, kindness, generosity, and perseverance. Her writing is detailed without getting bogged down into the minutiae and characters are well-developed which results in huge buy-in for readers as they root for Bicycle to achieve her goal and for those she meets along the way to find what they are searching for, as well. ELA teachers could easily use this novel as a class read aloud and would find that a plethora of skills, such as theme, character development, cause/effect, and figurative/sensory language, just flow from discussion that will certainly ensue. There is a joy and energy that seems to leap from the pages of this highly recommended book and having briefly met Ms. Uss at the 2019 Texas Library Conference's Bluebonnet Award speed-dating program, I can see her voice speaking through Bicycle. She was such a pleasure to watch and talk to, not only the program, but as I waited in line in the Author Alley later. I am anxiously watching for her next book and can not believe that this was her first one!!
October 26, 2019
Bicycle naturally likes peace and quiet. Wouldn't you, if you'd grown up in the company of many Mostly Silent Monks (who can only say the Sacred Eight Words: yes, no, maybe, later, now, sleep, help, and sandwich) and one retired Nearly Silent Nun? But the Mostly Silence she's lived in ever since she wandered into the monastery on moving day is broken by the chattering girls her age. So she avoids them, instead riding on her trusty bike Clunk.
But when Sister Wanda decides that it's time for Bicycle to make some friends and go to a Friendship Factory-- where you're guaranteed to come home with at least three new friends-- instead of going to meet her idol Zbig Sienkiewicz at the San Francisco Blessing of the Bikes, Bicycle decides to ride her bike across the United States, from Washington D.C. to San Francisco, to meet him and make a friend her own way. Without telling Sister Wanda. Of course, Bicycle has no idea that she'll have some adventures to put some books to shame-- and make more than only one friend.
Almost to San Francisco, CA
Dear Cookie Lady,
Here's one more postcard for your wall from someone who wasn't sure she'd make it all the way. I hope some other tired person comes to your house, sees this note hung above the cookie table, and realizes they can do more than they think they can.
Sincerely,
Bicycle (A Girl You Rescued with Cookies and Lemonade)
Tolle et lege.
But when Sister Wanda decides that it's time for Bicycle to make some friends and go to a Friendship Factory-- where you're guaranteed to come home with at least three new friends-- instead of going to meet her idol Zbig Sienkiewicz at the San Francisco Blessing of the Bikes, Bicycle decides to ride her bike across the United States, from Washington D.C. to San Francisco, to meet him and make a friend her own way. Without telling Sister Wanda. Of course, Bicycle has no idea that she'll have some adventures to put some books to shame-- and make more than only one friend.
Almost to San Francisco, CA
Dear Cookie Lady,
Here's one more postcard for your wall from someone who wasn't sure she'd make it all the way. I hope some other tired person comes to your house, sees this note hung above the cookie table, and realizes they can do more than they think they can.
Sincerely,
Bicycle (A Girl You Rescued with Cookies and Lemonade)
Tolle et lege.
August 21, 2018
This is a book that invents its own genre! Adventure/ghost story/magical realism/social commentary/coming of age/farce/sports? I don't know but it was fun to read and one of the most unusual books I've read this year.
So much that I liked here: a haunted bicycle and an AI bicycle, SlowDown Cafes, the Mostly Silent Monks, the story of Bicycle's journey across the states, the wacky characters and the reflections on friendship, the reluctance of adults to recognize children's understandings of themselves and their needs, the sport of bicycling and the basic kindness of the world.
I think there was a bit of wobble at the 3/4 point and some of the threads pulled a little thin but the story finishes strong. Absurd and delightful and wildly different.
So much that I liked here: a haunted bicycle and an AI bicycle, SlowDown Cafes, the Mostly Silent Monks, the story of Bicycle's journey across the states, the wacky characters and the reflections on friendship, the reluctance of adults to recognize children's understandings of themselves and their needs, the sport of bicycling and the basic kindness of the world.
I think there was a bit of wobble at the 3/4 point and some of the threads pulled a little thin but the story finishes strong. Absurd and delightful and wildly different.
September 16, 2018
This is just an adorable, quirky read. Bicycle's adventures as she cycles across the U.S. are reminiscent of the travels in The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. The cast of characters are charming and the book will have you chuckling throughout. The climax is a bit heartbreaking, but the ending is satisfying in an unexpected way.
January 30, 2020
A very cute book about friendship, responsibility, fried pies, helping others, and of course bicycles. The pacing was good and all the characters were fun and rememberable. It was a tad overly sweet but a fun read!
March 29, 2018
You can tell the author knows cycling with some unrealistic adventures for the kids.
October 8, 2018
I fun book. Very imaginative and quirky. Doesn't quite come together in some parts but the character arc is well-done and I couldn't put it down. How can I not love a story about biking!
June 18, 2020
LOVED this book! This is definitely going down as one of my all time top favorite books that I read to my daughter. Such a FUN read- just really laugh out loud, preposterous fun. I will heartily recommend this book to anyone. Bicycle is so lovable, her adventure is challenging but filled with so many good things on the way and good people. The pace, dialogue, character and plot development are all top notch, all very clever. Great writing! And Fun reading! So glad I picked this one up!
March 27, 2025
Everything a children’s book should be! A very true to life representation of bike camping. I’ve never (technically) had my bike run over by a herd of pigs and woken up on a strangers couch to the scent of fried pies, but I know the feeling!
January 5, 2019
This book has many winning qualities. It's exceedingly good-natured, full of clever turns, charming in tone, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. It's also so interminably, aggressively quirky and, despite being the story of a young girl who travels alone across country relying on the kindness of strangers to get by, completely divorced from the reality of what actual dangers are inherent in such a journey. Ultimately, I appreciate the innocence of the whole thing, but I also wish its characters felt like real people rather than old-fashioned caricatures and its setting felt a bit more modern and true rather than simplistic and folksy.
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September 7, 2019Delightful and original. I adored this book! It made me wan't to bike across the country and eat tons of food.
April 23, 2020
Bicycle has grown up at the Mostly Silent Monastery where she was abandoned as a child. She loves her life with Sister Wanda and the Mostly Silent Monks. But Sister Wanda is getting worried by the fact that Bicycle has no friends, so she signs her up for a summer camp called the Friendship Factory. Bicycle is horrified by the prospect, and hatches her own plan to find friends. She's going to bicycle herself from her home in Washington D.C. to San Francisco for the Blessing of the Bicycles where her cycling idol, Zbig, will be appearing and she's sure just waiting for her to befriend him. She's got supplies, her trusty bicycle Clunk, and the gumption to get herself across the nation. But is that enough?
This is a quirky little road trip with a very friendly ghost, a girl who has had a most unique upbringing, a very random assortment of people along the way, and a tour of the US from DC to San Fran. I was a little surprised when the ghost showed up, but it's probably the coziest ghost story out there. (I think the ghost was just a device to have Bicycle able to talk to her bicycle for the first half of the book. He wasn't scary at all. He was funny, goofy, and very good for Bicycle.) A story about a girl biking solo across the US could have been very tense and filled with mishaps and nasty people. But Bicycle overwhelmingly runs into people who are kind, helpful, and just what Bicycle needs to keep going. It's a feel good story, and the troubles Bicycle does face aren't sinister and are quickly resolved. Having driven across the US on a route that basically followed the route Bicycle took from Illinois to Nevada, I have to say the descriptions of the trip were pretty much on point. (Which should be the case. The back of the book shares that the author actually has cycled across the US herself.) Hand this to middle graders looking for a story unlike anything they've read before, those who like travel tales, bicyclists, and fans of friendship stories. Because ultimately, this is a story about a journey to find friends. And Bicycle succeeds in ways she never expected or could have predicted.
This is a quirky little road trip with a very friendly ghost, a girl who has had a most unique upbringing, a very random assortment of people along the way, and a tour of the US from DC to San Fran. I was a little surprised when the ghost showed up, but it's probably the coziest ghost story out there. (I think the ghost was just a device to have Bicycle able to talk to her bicycle for the first half of the book. He wasn't scary at all. He was funny, goofy, and very good for Bicycle.) A story about a girl biking solo across the US could have been very tense and filled with mishaps and nasty people. But Bicycle overwhelmingly runs into people who are kind, helpful, and just what Bicycle needs to keep going. It's a feel good story, and the troubles Bicycle does face aren't sinister and are quickly resolved. Having driven across the US on a route that basically followed the route Bicycle took from Illinois to Nevada, I have to say the descriptions of the trip were pretty much on point. (Which should be the case. The back of the book shares that the author actually has cycled across the US herself.) Hand this to middle graders looking for a story unlike anything they've read before, those who like travel tales, bicyclists, and fans of friendship stories. Because ultimately, this is a story about a journey to find friends. And Bicycle succeeds in ways she never expected or could have predicted.
August 24, 2018
It was okay. An interesting book, but sometimes altogether too weird.
For example, there are actually 3 talking Bicycles in this book - Bicycle herself, her bike haunted by a Civil-War southerner, and finally her smartbike. Also, the nun really isn't that good of a caretaker. She's just not, even right from the beginning of the book. Third, every situation pretty much goes Bicycle's way eventually. She is careless, but that is almost praised quite often. And everyone that meets her instantly likes her and gives her food. And every suggestion she has for anyone turns their life around completely, for the better of course. Fourth, horse thieves are hanged, not praised; the haunted bicycle should know that. Stealing a Kentucky Derby winning horse and then using it as an advertising stunt would land you in jail for a very long time. And lastly, we took a good long journey through the middle of the country. And what did we learn? The nicknames of states (not why they have those names) and the general topography of the land. That's it. Bicycle is a smart girl who loves learning and could have learned so much more about this wonderful country, but our friend the author doesn't seem to know much about it and didn't put in the effort to do the research.
I also have a beef with the book being quite sacreligious. I mean, the girl was raised with monks and nuns, and God or even praryer is never mentioned - not once. But the really shameful part is when the Sermon on the Mount is 'quoted,' but with words and everything changed to match the blessing of the bicycles. It's quite bad actually how it's done. I know it was meant in jest, but it is clear to me that the author thinks of religion as a kind of jest of its own.
But it was interesting enough for 3 stars. A lot of people enjoy this more than I do, and I can see why. I was hoping this would be Newbery caliber, but it's really not.
For example, there are actually 3 talking Bicycles in this book - Bicycle herself, her bike haunted by a Civil-War southerner, and finally her smartbike. Also, the nun really isn't that good of a caretaker. She's just not, even right from the beginning of the book. Third, every situation pretty much goes Bicycle's way eventually. She is careless, but that is almost praised quite often. And everyone that meets her instantly likes her and gives her food. And every suggestion she has for anyone turns their life around completely, for the better of course. Fourth, horse thieves are hanged, not praised; the haunted bicycle should know that. Stealing a Kentucky Derby winning horse and then using it as an advertising stunt would land you in jail for a very long time. And lastly, we took a good long journey through the middle of the country. And what did we learn? The nicknames of states (not why they have those names) and the general topography of the land. That's it. Bicycle is a smart girl who loves learning and could have learned so much more about this wonderful country, but our friend the author doesn't seem to know much about it and didn't put in the effort to do the research.
I also have a beef with the book being quite sacreligious. I mean, the girl was raised with monks and nuns, and God or even praryer is never mentioned - not once. But the really shameful part is when the Sermon on the Mount is 'quoted,' but with words and everything changed to match the blessing of the bicycles. It's quite bad actually how it's done. I know it was meant in jest, but it is clear to me that the author thinks of religion as a kind of jest of its own.
But it was interesting enough for 3 stars. A lot of people enjoy this more than I do, and I can see why. I was hoping this would be Newbery caliber, but it's really not.
December 26, 2018
A foundling, a "mostly silent" monastery, a bicycle with some pretty incredible technology, a ghost from the Civil War, a cross-country trip. Sounds improbably incongruous, but trust me, these disparate elements all come together in an engaging and adventurous story. You'll enjoy getting to know Bicycle and the friends and supporters she meets while riding from DC to San Francisco. With a forward-moving plot and 23 shortish chapters, this book would work well as a classroom read-aloud. And reluctant readers won't get too discouraged or bogged down. Carefully constructed (I couldn't find any loose ends) and well written, I anticipate seeing The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle on some of the 2018 awards short lists. Like all good magic realism, this book works best when you suspend your disbelief; just go along for the ride and enjoy the twists and turns.
July 1, 2018
This book came to me at an interesting time. I have been following the progress of a person who called himself the Cycling Sketcher. He started in Virginia and bicycled to California. As often as he could, he would accompany his daily progress with a watercolor sketch. This is basically what the protagonist in this story does as well. Given that she is supposedly 12 years old and has only a small amount of money, you know the story will be completely far-fetched (and it was), but it was rather endearing, anyway. If I can set aside my penchant for realistic stories that are really realistic, rather than obviously fantasy, I must admit, I enjoyed this MC for her determination and persistence. And her observations of people.
November 6, 2022
It’s hard to say who my favorite character is in this incredibly endearing, heart warming story. From the talkative mostly silent monk Otto to a fantastic singing ghost named Griffin - you are most certainly bound to find many personalities that latch onto your heart! Even Sister Wanda managed to sneak into mine! This is also the coziest adventure with some magic thrown in for good measure. Bicycle’s tenacity and spirit kept me coming back for more until the end of our time together. Highly recommend this delight of novel, it truly felt like a warm hug. 🤗
December 22, 2018
Lovely juvenile fiction novel, part fantasy/part adventure genre, about an introverted orphan, uniquely named Bicycle, who leaves her guardian at the Mostly Silent Monastery in D.C. and begins a trek on her old bicycle, Clunk, to San Francisco to make friends with Zbig, a famous Polish pro-cyclist. The cross-country journey is filled with colorful characters, history, sights, life lessons and adventures.
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