June is a great time to get outside and ride a bike. Even the Chatham Area Public Library has a bike! The Library’s brand new book bike, Bikelangelo, is ready to roll. Bikelangelo will be at some area businesses this summer including Webber’s Ice Deli and County Market. You’ll be able to check out children’s and adult books, get a library, or renew your library card (for those in the Chatham Area Library district). In excitement for Bikelangelo, let’s focus on some fun books about bicycles!
Even if riding bicycles is not your favorite past time, these fiction books are sure to keep your pedals turning. Stationary Bike by Stephen King is the story of artist Richard Sifkitz. Alarmed by his high cholesterol level, he buys a stationary bike for exercise and puts his talents to use by painting a scenic wall mural on the wall opposite it. The mural, however, turns out to be more than just an ordinary picture, and soon his stationary bike is taking him places he doesn't want to go but can't stay away from. A Bicycle Made for Two by Mary Jayne Baker is a romance available as an ebook on hoopla. In a lost corner of the Yorkshire Dales, Lana Donati runs a restaurant with her brother. As a distraction to help them get over losing the father they loved dearly, and as a tribute to his passion for the beautiful area they live in, Lana hatches a plan to boost business for everyone by having the Tour de France pass through their village. But this entails getting the small community to work together, including Lana's (attractive) arch-nemesis, former pro cyclist turned bike shop owner, Stewart McLean.
The Library’s nonfiction books on bicycles include basic maintenance, bicycle history, and stories from bicycle enthusiasts. On Bicycles by Amy Walker is a collection of stories by a diverse group of cycling enthusiasts and activists that shows cycling is fun, as well as being healthy for riders and clean for the environment. This ebook can be checked out on hoopla. The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance & Repair by Todd Downs is exactly what it says it is. While this might not be the most gripping read, when it’s needed, you’ll be glad to have it. Finally, for an invention with a history of just 200 years, the simple bicycle has changed the world in many ways. Tom Ambrose’s The History of Cycling in Fifty Bikes relates this history by telling the stories of 50 iconic machines that have shaped the world.
Young children might enjoy these books highlighting all the adventures that come with a good bike ride. Along a Long Road by Frank Viva has illustrations and brief text that evoke a bicycle ride, with its ups and downs, sweeping turns, and vivid views. The Sidewalk Patrol by Larry Dane Brimner tells of Abby and her friends as they take time to move some bicycles so that their blind neighbor can walk on the sidewalk. The Girl and the Bicycle by Mark Pett is a wordless picture book in which a girl sees a bicycle she wants to buy, works hard for a kindly neighbor to earn the money for it, then gets a pleasant surprise.
These bike-tastic reads are all available at the Chatham Area Public Library. Stop by the Library OR catch Bikelangelo at some area businesses, parks, and festivals this summer!