Louisa Belinda Bellflower believes that she should be free to ride a bicycle just as her brother is allowed to do. Set against the women’s suffrage movement of the late 19th century in New York, this is a liberating and joyful story of girl power and cycling, engagingly told.
Louise 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 e ort 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.
Share this entertaining and informative picture book with young readers for discussion about women's rights and the many ways women and girls were (are) held back and discouraged from doing the things boys and men could (can) do without question. -- New York Journal of Books
Author
About Larissa Theule
Larissa Theule holds an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is the author of three forthcoming picture books (two on the Abrams list). She lives in Pasadena, CA with her family and spends her time writing, biking through town, and tending to her rambling garden. Kelsey Garrity-Riley earned her degree in illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She illustrates for many platforms, from books and magazines to greeting cards and window displays. She and her husband now call Brooklyn, NY home.
