Along a long road

A terrific debut from Viva, an award-winning illustrator and frequent cover artist for The New Yorker, this sleek and stylish travelogue follows a lone cyclist on a continuous path that runs from first page to last. With the road a glossy ochre snaking through a matte four-color backdrop, the book has a distinctive look (and, to a toddler, feel). The cyclist's travels from seashore to cityscape and back will inspire both tricyclists and early riders to push on. RED WAGON, written and illustrated by Renala Liwska. 32 pp. Philomel. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 5) When Lucy, a wide-eyed fox with a pink ribbon, gets a brand-new wagon, all she wants to do is play. But first, her mother insists she take her wagon to the market to stock up. With help from her woodland friends, Lucy transforms chore into adventure: an unexpected downpour is reimagined as pirate-infested waters; the long trip runs through both the Old West and railroad country; and she market itself is a circus tent. With her softly fuzzy critters, Liwska ("The Quiet Book," "The Loud Book!") illustrates the triumph of imagination over impatience. CARS GALORE, by Peter Stein. Illustrated by Boh Staake. 32 pp. Candlewick. $15.99. (Picture book: ages 4 to 8) Like a rewed-up hybrid of Richard Scarry's "Cars and Trucks From A to Z" and P.D. Eastman's "Go, Dog. Go!" this book for those obsessed with all things automotive will also make them laugh. The rhyming text is upbeat and offbeat. "Jazz car, soul car, rock 'n' roll car. Blues car, song car. Sing-along car!" accompanies all manner of vehicles jammed with a saxophone-playing tiger, a kids' band , "The Spahhnkies" and a singer in a shoe-shaped car. (Ignore the ominous final line, "Someday YOU'LL drive!") NEW RED BIKE! written and illustrated by James E. Ransome. 32 pp. Holiday House. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Every child knows the fine line between a stolen bike and a "borrowed" one. Ransome, winner of a Coretta Scott King award for illustration, writes here about the joys of cycling and the perils of the lost bicycle, and ultimately about the rewards of sharing and riding hikes among friends. With sweet illustrations and simple text, the message will work especially well with the training-wheel set. TILLIE THE TERRIBLE SWEDE How One Woman, a Sewing Needle, and a Bicycle Changed History. By Sue Stauffacher. Illustrated by Sarah McMenemy. 40 pp. Knopf. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 5 to 8) "In the old days, most girls came 10 America with a dream, but all Tillie Anderson had was a needle," begins this winning account of a Swedish immigrant who desires to cycle and to pedal fast - "the speedy, scorchy, racy kind of riding." Anderson, who went on to become the women's racing champion of the world, is a figure fit for admiration, and her story, set against the bicycle craze of the 1890s - and matched with superb illustrations - will rivet readers. WHEELS OF CHANGE How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way). By Sue Macy. Illustrated. 96 pp. National Geographic. $18.95. (Middle grade/young adult; ages 10 and up) "Let me tell you what I think of bicycling," Susan B. Anthony said in 1896. "I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world." In telling the interconnected stories of women's rights and women's cycling, Macy, the author of several nonfiction books profiling notable women, delivers a first-rate account. With archival photographs and reproductions of cycling posters, "Wheels" is as attractive and diverting as any "lady cyclist." PAMELA PAUL