The Running Machine: The Invention of the Very First Bicycle
by Keith Negley; illus. by the author
Primary    Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins    40 pp.
7/24    9780063119826    $19.99

In 1815 a volcano erupts, blanketing the northern hemisphere with dark clouds that block the sun and create winterlike conditions for a year. Life is bleak: crops fail; animals die; and in this world dependent on horses for transportation, people’s mobility is limited. A young German forester named Karl Drais wonders if he could construct a vehicle that would be powered by humans, not horses. He tries and fails. Drais alters the design and tries again. This time, success! Mixed-media illustrations beautifully enhance the text. The initial, full-bleed spreads, employing woodland shades of brown and green, complement the leisurely introduction to Drais and his rural setting. Post-eruption illustrations turn dark, containing only shades of black and brown and featuring dense clouds of ash topping each page. As Drais perfects his final design, spot art underscores the multiple steps required to construct a workable, human-propelled, two-wheeled vehicle. When he embarks on his initial ride, the palette brightens, displaying bursts of color and revealing a shining sun that creates a visual metaphor: “There was wonder in the world again, a place where anything was still possible.” In an informative author’s note, Negley (The Boy and the Wild Blue Girl, rev. 5/20) explains that he devised this story based on three facts he knew about the real-life Drais (1785–1851): he created the first two-wheeled, self-propelled vehicle, this machine did not have pedals, and Drais’s initial ride was about four miles. A terrific fictionalized narrative, clear about the limited information on which it’s based.

From the ">November/December 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.