Reviews

Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face by Kelsey Garrity-Riley, Larissa Theule

bickie's review against another edition

3.0

Touches on role of bicycle in helping women move their freedom forward. Positive role of brother Joe, who helps Louisa Belinda learn. Louisa Belinda shows perseverance and resilience, staying committed despite falling down again and again. Joe is a patient teacher despite the blurb in the front that makes it sound like they are in an antagonistic relationship. They are both afraid of "bicycle face" for her, but she takes the risk. Includes a lot of references to women's suffrage in the illustrations. All people shown are white except for one house that has a brown family, and a couple of brown faces in what look like women's suffrage activities. There is also a woman in a wheelchair depicted twice.

msmahlon's review against another edition

4.0

I wish this were a little longer and delved more into the sexist taunt of bicycle face, but this is still a great little book. I love the backmatter.

#1 favorite work concerning bicycle face is still Kate Beaton, though.

carolynaugustyn's review against another edition

4.0

A lovely illustrated look at how women had to fight for their right to vote AND ride bikes. I liked the story and it had a lovely message to it, there was also a nice historical note at the end explaining the time period in more detail.

misscalije's review against another edition

5.0

This time period was certainly cleaned up for the kids, but the afterword acknowledged it. The gender essentialism runs deep! I love how the rest of the grown-ups are working on suffrage and the kids are like “you know what is more important? Bikes.”

libraryrobin's review against another edition

4.0

Great story of an early (fictional) "wheelwoman", based on cyclists of the day. Factual info linking women's sufferage and bicycling follows. Delightful history and fiction!

sunflowerjess's review against another edition

adventurous informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

This is a fictional children's picture book based on very real events - it seems so ludicrous to think that "bicycle face" was an actual tactic to prevent women from riding bikes, and yet, it doesn't, because women are still fighting for basic human rights all over the world. I love how this book tied in bicycle riding with the suffrage movement; I particularly appreciate that the author points out in her author's note that the suffrage movement "spanned decades and was indefensibly segregated." Indeed, Black people and people belonging to minority and marginalized groups are STILL being denied the right to vote. I'm reading "One Person, No Vote" by Carol Anderson right now so this is especially prescient on my mind. Kudos to Larissa Theule and Kelsey Garrity-Riley for bringing this book into existence!

e_ramirez_ortega's review against another edition

5.0

I absolutely love the historical references here. My daughter and I learned a lot about a woman's right to ride a bicycle (yes, that was a thing). It's quite astonishing how far women went to actually do such an activity.

fernthepanda's review against another edition

4.0

A great glance at a little known fact about the history of the bicycle.

thislibrarylife's review against another edition

4.0

I loved this book! It's great for families who want to educate their children on how the world looked before women had the right to vote. A great way to celebrate the 100th anniversary! There's also some great supplemental content in the back.