The Patchwork Bike

Under a "stretching-out sky at the edge of the no-go desert," a dark brown child with mirrored sunglasses gives readers a tour of a desert village, from "our mud-for-walls home" to "the sand hill we built to slide down." But the best thing? Soaring out into the sand on the bike the kids have created from cans, discarded wood, and "a bell that used to be Mum's milk pot." In her picture book debut, Clarke's lines sing with sound and rhythm, evoking the "shicketty shake" sound of the bike on sand hills. Street artist Rudd's textured paint-and-cardboard collages create a strong sense of a place (the blaze and shadow of the desert) and the people who live there: the narrator's "fed-up mum" in a hijab and robe, and the "crazy brothers" pictured bouncing on a police car, who write "BLM" on the bike's license plate--a reference to Black Lives Matter, Rudd notes in an afterword. In an author's note, Clarke writes about her experiences with poverty: "What these times taught me was how to make something out of nothing." Without minimizing the clear references to economic and racial struggle, the words and images in this snapshot story pulse with resourceful ingenuity, joyful exuberance, and layered meanings. Ages 6-9. (Sept.)

Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

PreS-Gr 2—In this Australian import, three siblings who live in a remote village "at the edge of the no-go desert" in a "mud-for-walls home," make do with what they have to entertain themselves. They like to run, jump, and climb, but their pride and joy is their bike, which they cobbled together out of spare parts and junk. The handlebars are made of branches, and the wood-cut wheels go "winketty wonk" as they ride, a nice onomatopoetic touch. The story by itself is superb, but the artwork elevates it further. Rudd's street art approach is raw yet refined as nearly every brushstroke is visible on the repurposed cardboard backgrounds. Much like Javaka Steptoe's Radiant Child or Jane Yolen's What To Do with a Box, the format shows the incredible creativity of young minds combined with the constraints of poverty. Rudd not only perfectly matches the tone culturally but also works in a few nods to the Black Lives Matter movement, which he explains in his artist's note. VERDICT An excellent story and conversation starter.—Peter Blenski, Greenfield Public Library, WI

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

"Clarke's poetically compressed language hurtles joyfully along, while Rudd's illustrations, made on cardboard boxes with spirited swaths of paint, burst with irrepressible life. Dreaming and building, we see, go hand in hand no matter where you live." —The New York Times Book Review 

"There are small mysteries and deep shadows, figurative as well as literal, that stretch among Rudd's provocative paint-on-corrugated packing box illustrations in this Australian import...With every visual detail a poignant counterpoint to the simple storyline, there are depths here for older children to plumb." —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review) 

"It's so incredibly beautiful and the art is magnificent." —A Fuse #8 Production (blog)

"Vibrant, energetic, and wildly original! Who wouldn't love those imaginative kids . . . and their weary mom?" —The Booklist Reader 

"Bold, beautiful acrylic paintings atop recycled cardboard. This is the sort of book that wows you from the front cover on." —100 Scope Notes (blog)