Girl on a Motorcycle

Viking (Penguin Random House)

(pub. 9.8.2020)  

48 pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor

       Amy Novesky
       and illustrator:

       Julie Morstad  

 

C haracter: Anne-France Dautheville

O verview: 

      

"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."

T antalizing taste: 

     "A pink sunset is a gift to the lone girl on a motorcycle, on the way to Istanbul.

      Here, a bridge connects the east to the west. The girl and her motorcycle cross from one continent to another. The sea sparkles below her.

     One day she will write a book. She will tell the world: It is hard. It is hot. I learned a lot. 

     Children run after her bike, shout. Hello! Hello! Mister! Mister!

     Some are curious, others shy. Yes, I am a girl.

      Children run after her bike, shout. Goodbye! Goodbye!"

And something more: The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books' starred review touches on the poignancy of this beautifully written and illustrated book reaching us at this time (or any time):  “This eminently sharable title arrives as soothing balm, stirring reminders of the world beyond household walls and offering images onto which each can attach a personal dream: Where is my ‘Elsewhere’? Whom would I meet? What would I see?” 

    I asked my talented author friend, Amy Novesky, if she would share a few thoughts about writing this book, and she kindly wrote:  

    "I love to travel, but I am a very nervous traveler. That’s one of the reasons I was drawn to this story; Anne-France was strong, but she wasn’t fearless. Before she left on her very first trip, she was nervous, couldn’t sleep. What’s that saying about being brave? If you’re not afraid, you can’t be brave.

Speaking of being brave, I felt I couldn't write this story without experiencing what it's like to ride on a motorcycle, and it had been years since I'd been on one. So, I bid on and won at my son's school auction a motorcycle ride with one of the teachers, beating out all of the adventurous dads. It was terrifying and exhilarating, and I discovered how much I love my spine."

Amy's last note in the book is powerful: "What I  wish for all young citizens of the world, for every human being on this incredible planet, is the ability and freedom to travel, to wander, and to lust for elsewhere, to meet people, to experience through their own eyes and hearts that the world is beautiful and good. Because I believe, dear reader, that it is."

It Began With a Page

How Gyo Fujikawa
Drew the Way

Harper Collins Publishers
(pub. 10.8.2019) 
48 pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Kyo Maclear
and illustrator:  Julie Morstad

 
C haracter: Gyo Fujikawa

O verview: 
     "From the time she was a little girl, Gyo Fujikawa drew pictures.
     Gyo's parents had come to California from Japan looking for a better life, but sometimes Gyo felt invisible. When high school came, Gyo's teachers recognized her gift for creating beautiful art and got behind her. Art became her profession, and now her drawings were in magazines and store window displays.
     Eventually, Gyo was asked to illustrate picture books for children. She envisioned a diverse cast of characters, explaining that she wanted 'an international set of babies...' in the pages of books.
     Had it ever been done before?
     Not yet.
     Her Babies, published in 1963, welcomed children of all colors into the pages of a picture book for the first time, paving the way for publishers, teachers, readers, and future writers to imagine a more inclusive world...

T antalizing taste: 
     "Babies! Chubby-cheeked, squat-legged, bouncy-bottomed babies. Naughty-nice, oh-so-busy, toddle-crawling babies.
 
      But the publisher said no.

     No to mixing white babies and black babies. It was not done in early 1960s America, a country with laws that separated people by skin color.

     But Gyo would not budge.

     She closed her eyes and remembered all the times she had felt unseen and unwelcome.

     She looked the publisher in the eye and said, 'It shouldn't be that way. Not out there in the streets. Not here on this page. We need to break the rules."

And something more: "A note from the author and illustrator" explains that "Gyo inherited a passion for social justice and labor rights from her poet mother, Yu. For example, she would not work for publishers that didn't pay their artists a fair living wage. She was also one of the fist children's book artists to ask for royalties. She encouraged other artists to do the same. 'Let's not follow the old rules,' she said. 'Let's make new ones.'"