Girl on a Motorcycle

by Amy Novesky, Julie Morstad (Illustrator)

Overview

A picture book biography by an award-winning team about the first woman to ride a motorcycle around the world

One day, a girl gets on her motorcycle and rides away. She wants to wander the world. To go . . . Elsewhere. This is the true story of the first woman to ride a motorcycle around the world alone. Each place has something to teach her. Each place is beautiful. And despite many flat tires and falls, she learns to always get back up and keep riding.

Award-winning author Amy Novesky and Governor General's Award-winning illustrator Julie Morstad have teamed up for a spectacular celebration of girl power and resilience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593116302
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	09/08/2020
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
Lexile:	540L (what's this?)
File size:	35 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

AMY NOVESKY is the author of Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois, which was a Bologna-Ragazzi Award winner and a Kirkus Reviews Best Book, as well as Me, Frida, winner of the Pura Belpré Honor Award for illustration. She lives outside of San Francisco with her family.

JULIE MORSTAD is the awardwinning illustrator of The Dress and the Girl; Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova; and Julia, Child, which was a Governor General's Award finalist. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with her family.

Editorial Reviews

★  "On more subtle display is the goodness Dautheville finds in people everywhere she travels, effectively demonstrating the beauty of cultures different from our own." —Booklist, starred review

★  "Morstad’s sophisticated, retro-chic artwork lovingly evokes the time frame dictated by the real life adventures of French writer Anne-France Dautheville, first woman to go around the world by motorcycle . . . The result is part documentary, part dreamscape with strong crossover appeal for fans of history and of romantic adventure, all of whom will find their curiosity assuaged in an endnote that explores Dautheville’s experience (complete with photographic confirmation) and Novesky’s own dream-chasing research and interview." —BCCB, starred review

"For picture book collections aimed at older readers, this is likely to touch something profound in teen or preteen lovers of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden as well as those who hear the siren call of travel."—School Library Journal


"A lovely tribute to both the pioneering motorcyclist and the joys of the open road." —The Horn Book


"A testimony to fearlessness that challenges traditional gender expectations." —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2020-07-28
“She dreams of wandering the world.”

Striking, light-filled illustrations with the look of mid-20th-century monotone prints and informative, evocative text tell the true story of Anne-France Dautheville, a White journalist who left her home in Paris in 1972 to embark on a decadelong, international motorcycle journey that she depicted in a series of articles and memoirs. While her writing is mentioned, the focus here is on the travels themselves, told with realistic, dreamlike detail from the perspective of a lone woman imbued with a sense of awe and freedom. Obstacles involving falls from and repairs of her bike are included, and the surprise and respect she received from girls along the way help depict the view and position of women during the time period. The use of the word girl in the title is a misnomer as Dautheville was 28 when she began her travels, though this may be a translation issue (the title echoes that of Dautheville’s 1973 memoir, Une demoiselle sur une moto); more disappointing is the use of the word girl throughout the book, from both a feminist perspective and a factual one. Still, word choice aside, this is an exhilarating story of an independent Frenchwoman who challenged prevailing beliefs to follow her heart, to travel, and to observe and describe different cultures and countries (Canada, India, and Afghanistan are highlighted) from a unique, outsider’s point of view. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 67.8% of actual size.)

A poetic, visually stunning depiction of a young woman’s travels via motorcycle with dated descriptors. (biographical note, author’s note) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews