The Red Bicycle: The Extraordinary Story of One Ordinary Bicycle

The Red Bicycle: The Extraordinary Story of One Ordinary Bicycle is about a bicycle named Big Red. He is first owned by a young boy in North America who loves him very much. Soon the boy outgrows Big Red and he is donated to a group who takes used bicycles to families in Africa. Big Red travels by ship for 28 days until he reaches Burkina Faso. He is now owned by a young girl, Alisetta, who uses Big Red to take things to the market to sell for her family. When Big Red’s spokes break, he is given to a man who fixes bicycles and uses them for a medical clinic. Big Red becomes a bicycle ambulance that takes people from their village to the clinic. He is a very useful bicycle.

The Red Bicycle was a really good book and it taught me about how bicycles help people in Africa. Donated bicycles help make their lives easier and can get places quicker. This book had a lot of writing, too much for me to read on my own. I liked the illustrations, but I especially liked the photographs in the back, showing people taking their items to market on their bicycles.