The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle

by Christina Uss

Overview

Selected for the 2019-2020 Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year

A determined 12-year-old girl bikes across the country in this quirky and charming debut middle grade novel.

Introverted Bicycle has lived most of her life at the Mostly Silent Monastery in Washington, D.C. When her guardian, Sister Wanda, announces that Bicycle is going to attend a camp where she will learn to make friends, Bicycle says no way and sets off on her bike for San Francisco to meet her idol, a famous cyclist, certain he will be her first true friend.

Who knew that a ghost would haunt her handlebars and that she would have to contend with bike-hating dogs, a bike-loving horse, bike-crushing pigs, and a mysterious lady dressed in black. Over the uphills and downhills of her journey, Bicycle discovers that friends are not such a bad thing to have after all, and that a dozen cookies really can solve most problems.

A Junior Library Guild selection!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823440078
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	06/05/2018
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	645,584
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Christina Uss has written about bicycling and travel for many magazines and newspapers. The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle was inspired in part by her own experiences while biking across the United States, once widthwise and once lengthwise. She is also the author of Colossus of Roads, a middle-grade featuring bicycle conspiracies, terrible traffic, and one carsick boy's grand plan to save his family business.

Editorial Reviews

07/16/2018
When a three-year-old girl in a faded pink t-shirt with the word bicycle on it shows up at the Mostly Silent Monastery in Washington, D.C., Sister Wanda takes her in. The girl’s fondness for the word leads Sister Wanda to give her the unusual moniker for a name, and Bicycle eventually acquires a bike of her own, a hefty orange number named Clunk. When Bicycle is 12, Sister Wanda worries about her lack of friends and arranges to send her to sleepaway camp at the Friendship Factory (“Three Guaranteed Friendships or Your Money Back”). Bicycle refuses and takes to the road with Clunk instead, mapping a route to San Francisco to meet her hero, Polish cycling racer Zbig, at the Blessing of the Bicycles. Along the way, she picks up a talkative ghost, procures a bike that can launch missiles and write, and flees from a woman in black. She also cultivates friend after friend, one mile at a time, as the story elegantly blends elements of mystery, adventure, and fantasy. Debut author Uss, a long-distance cyclist herself, effectively portrays the call—and toll—of self-reliance and the open road, and fashions a resolute heroine to root for. Ages 8–12. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary. (June)

Publishers Weekly

04/01/2018
Gr 4–6—When she was just a young girl, Bicycle was found by Sister Wanda, a retired "Nearly Silent Nun," at the doors of the Mostly Silent Monastery in Washington, D.C. Oddly, the only word the nuns and monks may use to communicate is sandwich. Now 12, Bicycle is a magnificent rider, hence her name. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to connect with other children and has no interest in making friends. Sister Wanda signs her up for a sleepaway camp called the Friendship Factory. Bicycle, however, has other plans. Deceiving Sister Wanda, she sets out on a cross-country ride to San Francisco, imagining she will meet and befriend bicycle-riding sensation, Zbig. Drawing on the author's own bicycle trip in 1996, Uss's debut novel uses a simple narrative that mixes realistic fiction with supernatural and farfetched fantastical elements. The well-organized chapters use a comfortable-sized font and a fluent storyline that moves the plot ahead. VERDICT Middle grade fans of realistic coming-of-age tales, especially those interested in cycling, will appreciate this unusual work of sports fiction.—Kathia Ibacache, Simi Valley Public Library, CA

School Library Journal

★ 2018-03-19
Twelve-year-old Bicycle secretly takes off from Washington, D.C., on her steadfast bike, Clunk, and heads to San Francisco by herself to find her bike-racing hero, Zbig—and, hopefully, her first real friend.Brought up at the Mostly Silent Monastery since she was 3 and home-schooled there, Bicycle understands that loving (and indomitable) Sister Wanda has signed her up for the Friendship Factory Spring Break Special for her own good. But it sounds like a "guaranteed nightmare"; introverted and reflective, with a penchant for wordplay, she needs to seek friends in her own way. In this impressive debut, Uss deftly mixes in elements of fantasy, magic, and mystery—a chatty ghost that haunts Clunk's handlebars, a second bike that can write and launch missiles, a creepy lady in black with "eyes that freeze your heart"—while always remaining true to the reality of Bicycle's journey. The author, a cross-country bicyclist herself, perfectly captures the rhythms of day-to-day life on the road: the joy, the hardships ("But everything is just so…big. Crazy-hilly and big!"), the growing sense of freedom and accomplishment, the stick-to-itiveness, the great hunger and the delicious food that relieves it, the kind people, and the bonding with one's bike. Though it has a substantial cast of quirky supporting characters, the book's default is white.Readers will eagerly join Bicycle and "pedal headfirst" into this terrific adventure, which is chock-full of heart and humor. (map) (Fabulism. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

★ "An extraordinary pilgrimage featuring several fantastical characters and an unforgettable adventure to boot."—Shelf Awareness, Starred Review
 
★ "'Pedal headfirst' into this terrific adventure."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
 
★ "The story elegantly blends elements of mystery, adventure, and fantasy."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
 
"“Readers who enjoy action and adventure with a dose of magic will happily go along for the ride."—Booklist
 
"A heartfelt celebration of the zen of cycling and a sympathetic portrait of an atypical kid who struggles to learn the art of friendship." —The Horn Book
 
"[Uss] mixes realistic fiction with supernatural and farfetched fantastical elements."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

Narrator Jennifer Barnhart makes listeners care about a girl whose actual name is Bicycle. Bicycle was abandoned as a baby at the Mostly Silent Monastery in Washington, DC. Now 12, Bicycle is obsessed with meeting her hero, Tour de France winner Zbigniew Sienkiewicz. When she is sent to sleepaway camp, she runs away and sets out on a cross-country bike tour to San Francisco to meet Zbig. A grand adventure follows in which Bicycle relies on the unlikely kindness of many strangers along the way. Barnhart deftly handles a mixed bag of colorful characters including a hillbilly Civil War ghost, a Kentucky Derby announcer, a nonagenarian bike mechanic, a haughty estate auctioneer, a French chef, and the sweet optimism of Bicycle herself. S.C. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2018 - AudioFile

Narrator Jennifer Barnhart makes listeners care about a girl whose actual name is Bicycle. Bicycle was abandoned as a baby at the Mostly Silent Monastery in Washington, DC. Now 12, Bicycle is obsessed with meeting her hero, Tour de France winner Zbigniew Sienkiewicz. When she is sent to sleepaway camp, she runs away and sets out on a cross-country bike tour to San Francisco to meet Zbig. A grand adventure follows in which Bicycle relies on the unlikely kindness of many strangers along the way. Barnhart deftly handles a mixed bag of colorful characters including a hillbilly Civil War ghost, a Kentucky Derby announcer, a nonagenarian bike mechanic, a haughty estate auctioneer, a French chef, and the sweet optimism of Bicycle herself. S.C. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2018 - AudioFile