BOOK REVIEW: The Girl and the Bicycle by Matt Pett

 Another classic wordless book by another author-illustrator (I had reviewed Journey and Quest by Aaron Becker a few weeks ago).  This is the most recent picture book by Matt Pett. 

A girl desires the green bicycle that she sees in the display window of a shop.  But when she checks her piggy bank, she realizes she doesn’t have enough to buy the bicycle.  She desperately searches all possible places around the house for loose change that could have slipped here and there. But her small finds do not suffice.  So she sets up a lemonade stand and even puts up her toys for sale.  But even that doesn’t yield enough returns to be able to buy the bicycle.

Disappointed, the girl sits under a tree, watching her little brother playing with the falling leaves.  A flash of inspiration and she gets an idea!  She offers to rake leaves from her neigbours’ yards to earn some money.

A kind lady takes on her services.  The girl helps the lady through the different seasons – raking leaves in the autumn, clearing snow in the winter, planting seeds and cleaning out the garage in the spring and even walking the lady’s dog. 

Finally, there comes a day when she has enough money to get the bicycle.  Excitedly, she runs to the store.  But alas, the bicycle is gone!  It has already been sold!

Saddened by the futility of her efforts, she once again sits down to think, watching her little brother play with his toy bicycle.  Seemingly inspired by him, she gets another idea! 

What is her idea and what happens next?  You must ‘see’ the book to find out!

I like this book for the simple sketches that give us every sense of the girl’s feelings – joy, sadness, hope, a sense of achievement, shock, disappointment, gratitude.  

Even though the entire story is rendered in sort of a grayish-brown, black and white, one doesn’t miss the lack of colours at all.  The only thing depicted in colour is the green bicycle in question, besides of course, one scene where the red airplane (from the author-illustrator’s The Boy and the Airplane) makes an appearance.

As I flipped through the book observing the pictures, I reached a point when I thought the story was over.  But then when I finally turned to the last page, my heart was touched by the last illustration! 

Appropriate for 6+ years, this story is about not losing heart, learning to handle disappointments and solve problems, being kind and selfless and showing a sense of gratitude.  Be good and good things will happen to you.