Review by Booklist Review
Nelson recounts the history of the bicycle, beginning with the 1817 invention of the velocipede, an entirely wooden contraption with no pedals or brakes. She notes subsequent design improvements, including pedals (1863), iron frames (1865), and the modern bicycle, complete with brakes, rubber tires, and chains in the mid-1890s. Throughout, the author emphasizes the many drawbacks that impeded early adoption of the bicycle, including unpaved streets, safety issues, women's clothing, and the often-prohibitive cost of early models. Bruno's digitally enhanced pencil illustrations make use of bold, bright colors; attention to fine details (particularly in his depictions of period costumes and the early two-wheelers); and scenes that convey both motion and emotion. Of particular note are a brakeless cyclist colliding into a barn, a team of French acrobats performing tricks while on cycles, and women in clothing adapted for riding. With an afterword offering further information about the various iterations of this conveyance, this makes a good choice for fans of Megan Hoyt's Bartali's Bicycle (2021).
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Polished illustrations by Italian artist Bruno draw immediate attention in this bicycle history. Digitally colored pencil drawings of 19th-century city scenes supply historical context, while images of the early machines make it easier to understand how novel the contraptions were amid horse-and-carriage transport. Nelson's sometimes shaky verse introduces the iterations, including an early pedal-less velocipede from Germany, upon which riders sat, steered, and hoped for the best ("Laws were written and hastily passed/ No velocipedes on the walking paths!"), and a brake-less version that arrived from France. Not until the appearance of brakes, rubber tires, spokes, and other features in the 1890s did bicycles become affordable and popular, including with women riders, who "were off with a zoom/ in split skirts and high boots and bold pantaloons." The book, like the bicycle, moves briskly along, tracing a path from luxury item to mode of transportation for the masses. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. More information about bicycles concludes. Ages 6--9. (June)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A dazzling gallery of early run-ups to the modern "safety" bike, with breezy commentary. Nelson begins with the "clunky" German velocipede of 1817. While taking a cavalier approach to rhyme and meter, she chronicles successive inventions and refinements that at last delivered a vehicle that was able to handle rough American roads and was available to the general populace: "Women especially, were off with a zoom / in split skirts and high boots and bold pantaloons." They were also cheap enough to go from being "just a toy for the wealthier classes" to "pedal-powered freedom / for the big, bustling masses." The bouncy narrative is rich in specific references to inventors and early mechanisms. In vividly evocative galleries, races, and crowded street scenes, Bruno provides precisely detailed images of huge-wheeled penny farthings and other antique models, generally rattling past astonished spectators as beleaguered riders struggle to maintain control. Women strike confident poses, many of the men sport stylish mustaches and mutton chops beneath elegant top hats, and all the human figures, including dark-skinned ones in several scenes, look like fashion plates from various periods of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In her prose recap, the author notes that bicycles still provide economical, eco-friendly transportation. "Together," she concludes, "we could pedal our way to a happier, healthier world." Wheels out a chapter in the history of technology that merits greater recognition. (bibliography) (Informational picture book. 8-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
