Living at the Mostly Silent Monastery for all of her life, Bicycle needs to develop frienships with children. Sister Wanda, who has raised her and homeschooled her, decides to send her to the Friendship Factory in Nevada. Knowing this is a bad idea, Bicycle leaves the monastery on her bicycle called "Clunk" to form a friendship with her bicyclist hero, the Polish man Zbig. The feat of riding "Clunk" from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco, where Zbig will be for the Blessing of the Bikes is daunting. As she crosses the United States, Bicycle forms friendships with interesting individuals.
The plot was a bit unrealistic, but I don't think being realistic was the author's main focus. Younger elementary children may enjoy hearing this chapter book read aloud since their expectations on what is real tend to be lower. It all ended a bit too neatly for me . . .but sometimes it is relaxing to read a book where everything works out perfectly!
Jonathan Bean illustrated the cover and drew the map that depicts Bicycle's cross country route. He grew up in the same county as me and also worked at the same business as me when I was a teen/college student. I always like seeing his work published!
Points to discuss: running away, luck is a big focus, Clunk is eventually haunted by a ghost
A sequel was published in 2023 about Bicycle's travel with Zbig from San Francisco to the east coast-A Few More Bicycles.
-Borrowed from the library.
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