The Magic Bicycle - Hardcover

Doherty, Berlie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0517709023 ISBN 13: 9780517709023

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1995

Synopsis

A boy discovers just how much persistence, hard work, and self-confidence it takes to learn how to ride a bicycle, but luckily he gets a little magical assistance from his shiny new three-speed itself

About this title

From Booklist

Ages 4^-8. After receiving a bicycle for a present, a boy discovers how difficult learning to ride can be. He's convinced that it will require magic, and magic is just what youngsters will encounter in this energetic, well-executed picture book. The boy's first-person perspective is consistently maintained, perfectly capturing the childhood rite of passage with all its anxiety and excitement. The boy will triumph; his determination flows from page to page. At first he succeeds only in his dreams, when he is pulled through the sky on his bike by a galloping white steed. In real life, he takes several headers--into the ditch and the flower bed. Then one day, with a push from his dad, he soars for real. It's impossible not to cheer for the boy with the gap-toothed grin when, in the final double-page spread, he and his bike stay the course. In his mind's eye, he has launched into the blue yonder, as if drawn by the magical reins of his white dream horse. Shelley Townsend-Hudson

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2?Doherty's poetic, unobtrusive text allows Birmingham's outstanding oil paintings to relate the story of The Magic Bicycle. The young narrator's facial expressions are revealing when he receives a "shining bike with its silver voice." With alternating determination and frustration, he tries to ride it, but he falls off every time. Only in his dreams is he successful. He decides that the key to cycling must be magic; he perseveres and is finally rewarded. The illustrations have a dreamlike quality, while simultaneously depicting realistic situations and emotions. One portrait of the boy's mother bandaging his knees is especially touching. Compare and contrast this picture book with Crescent Dragonwagon's Annie Flies the Birthday Bike (Macmillan, 1993) for a read-aloud session that will stimulate children's own storytelling.?Christina Dorr, Calcium Primary School, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0517709023
• ISBN 13: 9780517709023
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32