Summer Reading – Day 6! – Two Bikes and a Bully

Today’s theme is bikes!  Here are two recently published books about bikes – both very different but great in their own way.

First up is Ben Rides On by Matt Davis.  This book is about 3rd grader Ben, his bike and a bully.  There are many layers to this book and with many books written coming out that deal with bullies, I found this one refreshing because of the humor and element of surprise.  How Ben deals with the bully that stole his bike would launch a great classroom discussion.  The illustrations, by Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Matt Davis are lively and fun.  A great read.

Next is the latest book from one of my fav’s – Chris Raschka called Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle.  Chris (I feel that I am on a first name basis with him) has such a unique style of art – his colorful, loose, swoopy brush strokes are his signature style.  His simple text allows the reader time to absorb and add their own thoughts into the book.  I have added so many of his previous titles to my Reading Power book lists over the years including the classic- Yo! Yes!, Little Black Crow, The Hello-Goodbye Window and his Caldecott 2012 award winner – A Ball for Daisy.

This simple book about a girl learning to ride a bike is told in 2nd person.  (I was immediately attracted to this point of view because of how it fits so well into my latest book list of instructional texts for my new book!) It is written a little like a guide book, sequencing the steps of how to ride a bike – “First, you need to choose the perfect bike for you”, to watching others ride, to taking off those training wheels.  A great book for connecting and a great model for sequencing steps and writing in second person.

I think I might just head out for a bike ride now!