Review Detail

Two Wheels

Kids Fiction 215

Fantastic Book about Learning to Ride a Bike!

June 02, 2024

Overall rating

5.0

Plot

5.0

Characters

5.0

Writing Style

5.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

5.0

A little boy is tired of riding in the baby seat on his father's bike, especially since his father is an avid cyclist with a variety of bikes. He tries his brother's old tricycle, which is an improvement, but still doesn't have two wheels. Next his father (who is always shown in biking clothing!) brings home a balance bike that he is able to use to get some practice at staying upright. Eventually, there is a beautiful two wheeler with training wheels. The boy practices every evening until his father finally takes him out to the top of a hill to coast down without the training wheels. Miraculously, the boy stays upright, and is able to bike home. Now, he is able to join his family and friends on biking expeditions... on TWO wheels.

Good Points

'm a huge fan of biking, and it's such a freeing experience for children to be able to bike around their neighborhood. I really appreciated that ALL of the riders are shown properly wearing helmets; when I grew up, an orange flag on the back of our banana seats was all the safety gear that was available, but helmets are a very important thing for young riders to wear in the approved manner. It was also good to see that the biking occurred throughout the year; one scene shows fall leaves. Biking isn't just for good weather!

The process of learning how to ride a bike is nicely laid out in the book, and the boy is shown working hard to practice his skills. This is an important message to young riders who might be frustrated at how long it takes to learn balance, pedaling, and the many facets of bike riding that must be mastered before removing training wheels.

Magro's digitally created illustrations are charming, and the red silhouettes of bicycles on the end papers would make a very attractive fabric! I have some questions about the mother's slacks with enormous polka dots, though! The houses and neighborhood are particularly appealing, and I sort of want to hop on my bike and travel there myself.

I'm slowly amassing a collection of picture books about bicycling. They usually address important concepts like perseverance and hard work, but also include the joy and freedom of bicycling. This is perhaps the top of my pile, which includes Lim's I Am a Bird, Medina's Elena Rides, Raschka's Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bike, Boldt's Cantaloupe and HoneyDo Ride a Bike Slater's Wild Blue, Mole's I Love My Bike, and Rinker's Joy Ride.

Musician and author Gibb has a fantastic album of songs out called Pedal Onward that has on the cover, I believe, a picture of him in a baby seat on a bicycle being pedaled by his father! Two Wheeling might well become my theme song; it's so peppy and has such a great message about riding a bike. His love for the sport certainly is very evident in both the book and in his music.