(TOO-lee)
BORN TO RIDE:
A STORY ABOUT BICYCLE FACE
Illustrated by Kelsey Garrity-Riley
Published by Abrams, 2019
Louisa Belinda Bellflower lives in Rochester, New York, in 1896. She spends her days playing with her brother, Joe. But Joe gets to ride a bicycle, and Louise Belinda doesn’t. In fact, Joe issues a solemn warning: If girls ride bikes, their faces will get so scrunched up, eyes bulging from the effort of balancing, that they’ll get stuck that way FOREVER! Louise Belinda is appalled by this nonsense, so she strikes out to discover the truth about this so-called “bicycle face.”
Set against the backdrop of the women’s suffrage movement, Born to Ride is the story of one girl’s courageous quest to prove that she can do everything the boys can do, while capturing the universal freedom and accomplishment children experience when riding a bike.
A Junior Library Guild Selection
CLA Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts
"An important part of history engagingly told." ―Kirkus Reviews
For teachers and kids: Join Kelsey Garrity-Riley and draw the girl and her bike from Born to Ride on KidLit TV's Ready Set Draw!