The red bicycle : the extraordinary story of one ordinary bicycle (CitizenKid) by Isabella, Jude

The red bicycle : the extraordinary story of one ordinary bicycle (CitizenKid)
by Isabella, Jude; illustrated by Shin, Simone

(#0632ZT9)

Hardcover Kids Can Press, 2015

Price: USD 18.32

Description: 32 pages : color illustrations; 32 cm.
Dewey: -E-; Audience: Upper Elementary; Reading Level: 4.0

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Product Overview
From Follett

Includes bibliographical references (pages 30-31). When Leo outgrows his red bicycle, he sends it to Burkina Faso, where it starts a journey through many hands and has many uses. Includes information about how to get involved in bicycle donation efforts.

From the Publisher
In this unique nonfiction picture book, the main character is a bicycle that starts its life like so many bicycles in North America, being owned and ridden by a young boy. The boy, Leo, treasures his bicycle so much he gives it a name --- Big Red. But eventually Leo outgrows Big Red, and this is where the bicycle's story takes a turn from the everyday, because Leo decides to donate it to an organization that ships bicycles to Africa. Big Red is sent to Burkina Faso, in West Africa, where it finds a home with Alisetta, who uses it to gain quicker access to her family's sorghum field and to the market. Then, over time, it finds its way to a young woman named Haridata, who has a new purpose for the bicycle --- renamed Le Grand Rouge --- delivering medications and bringing sick people to the hospital.

This book makes an excellent choice for cultural studies classes; author Jude Isabella has provided several terrific suggestions in the back of the book for projects large and small, while a map shows the distance the bicycle traveled across the Atlantic Ocean. Award-winning illustrator Simone Shin's digitally composed artwork includes evocative depictions of Alisetta's and Haridata's communities in rural Africa, creating vivid comparisons between Leo's life and their lives. Youngsters will learn how different the world is for those who rely on bicycles as a mode of transportation, and how one ordinary bicycle --- and a child's desire to make a difference --- can change lives across the world. This book also offers an excellent opportunity for expanding character education lessons on caring, compassion and empathy to include the wider world.
Product Details
  • Publisher: Kids Can Press
  • Publication Date: March 1, 2015
  • Format: Hardcover
  • Series: CitizenKid
  • Dewey: -E-
  • Classifications: Fiction, Easy
  • Description: 32 pages : color illustrations ; 32 cm.
  • Tracings: Shin, Simone, illustrator.
  • ISBN-10: 1-77138-023-3
  • ISBN-13: 978-1-77138-023-2
  • LCCN: 2014-903474
  • Follett Number: 0632ZT9
  • Reading Level: 4.0
  • Audience: Upper Elementary