The adventures of a girl called Bicycle

Title:

Author:

Summary:

Left at the Mostly Silent Monastery as a toddler and home-schooled by a retired nun, twelve-year-old Bicycle rides cross-country to meet a famous cyclist who she hopes will be her first friend.

Edition:

First edition.

Contents:

The Mostly Silent Monastery -- Clunk -- The Friendship Factory -- Mr. Spim's Splendid Sponges -- Unfinished business in Virginia -- Nine hundred cows and counting -- The wayward dogs of Kentucky -- The cannibal takes off -- Slowing down for a bite in Illinois -- Pigs on parade in Missouri -- Paradise pies -- A bicycle without wheels -- Midway to nowhere -- The wheels of fortune spin in Kansas -- On top of the world in Colorado -- To catch a thief in Utah -- No override for the missile launch -- The loneliest road -- The best of luck in Nevada -- Calamity -- Say something nice in California -- The blessing of the bicycles -- No zebras, no noses.

Physical Description:

307 pages : map ; 22 cm

Genre:

Action and adventure fiction.

Subject Term:

Cycling -- Juvenile fiction.

Voyages and travels -- Juvenile fiction.

Friendship -- Juvenile fiction.

Nuns -- Juvenile fiction.

Monasteries -- Juvenile fiction.

Foundlings -- Juvenile fiction.

Publisher:

Margaret Ferguson Books, Holiday House,

Electronic Access:

Image

Publication Date:

2018

ISBN:

9780823440078

Publication Information:

New York : Margaret Ferguson Books, Holiday House, [2018]

Call Number:

J USS

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003365569	Juvenile Fiction	USS	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

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!

Author Notes

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.

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

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 © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

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) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.