The Bicycle: How an Act of Kindness Changed a Young Refugee’s Life
by Patricia McCormick and Mevan Babakar; illus. by Yas Imamura
Primary    Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins    40 pp.
5/24    9780063056992    $19.99

When her family must flee their beloved home in Kurdistan, young Mevan’s status as a refugee makes her feel smaller and smaller until she makes herself invisible. The family travels from Azerbaijan to Russia to the Netherlands, where a kind man sees her, despite her ability to hide herself, and gives her the perfect gift—a red bicycle—making her feel “a hundred feet tall.” This true story, gently told in the third person and coauthored by Babakar herself, is brought to life through evocative mixed-media illustrations, which capture the deep loneliness of leaving a home full of friends and family. The illustrations shift from the lush greenery of Kurdistan to the stark concrete of Soviet Bloc apartments to a colorful and joyous double-page spread when Mevan first rides her bicycle. An epilogue and author’s note describe more of Babakar’s experience as a young refugee and tell her story of returning to the Netherlands as an adult and reuniting with the kind apartment manager who gave her the bike. A reflective story about the isolation of life as a child refugee and about the enduring effects of an act of kindness.

From the May/June 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.