Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face

(Hardback)

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Description

Louise Belinda Bellflower lives in Rochester, New York, in 1896. She spends her days playing with her brother, Joe. But Joe gets to ride a bicycle, and Louise Belinda doesn't. In fact, Joe issues a solemn warning: If girls ride bikes, their faces will get so scrunched up, eyes bulging from the e ort of balancing, that they'll get stuck that way FOREVER! Louise Belinda is appalled by this nonsense, so she strikes out to discover the truth about this so-called "bicycle face." Set against the backdrop of the women's suffrage movement,Born to Rideis the story of one girl's courageous quest to prove that she can do everything the boys can do, while capturing the universal freedom and accomplishment children experience when riding a bike.

Reviews

An important part of history engagingly told * Kirkus Reviews *
Garrity-Riley's sunny art features round-faced, pink-cheeked characters; a palette of blues and browns, highlighted with splashes of red and yellow; and many period details. A visual subplot involves the children's mother, who is depicted painting voting rights posters, welcoming fellow suffragettes to tea, sewing her own bloomers, and taking a bicycle ridewith her daughter. * Booklist *
Simple but thoughtfully detailed, Garrity-Rileys illustrations incorporate multiple references to womens suffrage campaigns. * Publishers Weekly *

Author Bio

Larissa Theule holds an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is the author of several picture books, including Kafka and the Doll and Mouseboat. She lives in Pasadena, California, with her family.

Kelsey Garrity-Riley earned her degree in illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She illustrates books, magazines, greeting cards, and window displays. She lives in Brooklyn.