Born to Ride A Story About Bicycle Face

Set against the backdrop of the women’s suffrage movement, author Larissa Theule and illustrator Kelsey Garrity-Riley’s picture book Born to Ride is the story of one girl’s courageous quest to prove that she can do everything the boys can do, while capturing the universal freedom and accomplishment children experience when riding a bike.

Louise Belinda Bellflower lives in Rochester, New York, in 1896. She spends her days playing with her brother, Joe. But Joe gets to ride a bicycle, and Louise Belinda doesn’t. In fact, Joe issues a solemn warning: If girls ride bikes, their faces will get so scrunched up, eyes bulging from the effort of balancing, that they’ll get stuck that way FOREVER!

Appalled by this nonsense, Louise Belinda strikes out to discover the truth about this so-called “bicycle face.”

“An important part of history engagingly told.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Garrity-Riley’s sunny art features round-faced, pink-cheeked characters; a palette of blues and browns, highlighted with splashes of red and yellow; and many period details.” —Booklist

Larissa Theule holds an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is the author of three forthcoming picture books. She lives in Pasadena, California, with her family. Kelsey Garrity-Riley earned her degree in illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She illustrates books, magazines, greeting cards, and window displays. She lives in Brooklyn.