Book Review: Born to Ride
Age Range: 5-8
Author: Larissa Theule
Illustrator: Kelsey Garrity-Riley
Abrams Books for Young Readers
New York
2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3412-0
List Price: $8.99 (amazon.com)
Louisa Belinda Bellflower wants to learn to ride a bike, but it is 1896 in New York, and girls are not supposed to ride bikes. Regardless, she convinces her brother Joe to teach her how, borrows a pair of his trousers, and stubbornly puts herself to the task of learning to ride a bike. Louisa Belinda sticks with it notwithstanding a slight fear that “bicycle face” could be a real thing and despite multiple falls. In the end, Belinda inspires her mother to sew a pair of pants for herself and take up the bicycle along with her daughter.
I love that this book uses riding a bike, something kids in the target range are likely to be fascinated by, to teach about a period in history where women in the United States didn’t have as many opportunities as they do today. The book also carries the message of persistence and getting up again after you fall, quite literally. Not only that, but it portrays a wonderful example of a helpful and supportive, yet believable, sibling relationship. The story is simple and easy to follow.
The pictures were friendly and in a very cool way intertwined Louisa and Joe’s adventure with the backdrop of the women’s suffrage movement.
Following the story, historical facts regarding history of bicycling and how it related to the woman’s suffrage movement were provided. The historical pictures and photographs provided caught my son’s attention and had him asking me to read the details. He’s five and said they were a little long, but were interesting. His favorite part was the story and the way Belinda Louisa inspired her mom to ride a bike at the end. However, the historical facts section did spark some discussion after reading. Slightly older kids may get even more out of this section.
I’m kind of a stickler about situations where kids keep secrets from their parents in books, TV, and movies. Louisa Belinda does state “she needn’t know” when her brother asks what their mother will say about her daughter learning to ride a bike. However, the illustrations suggest that the mother is in fact very aware of her children’s activities, as does her decision to take up biking as well. Kids may or may not pick up on that, however.
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Buy it on Barnes and Noble here.