Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss. ( )

Initially, I wasn't enamored...though I think it was the abstract way the story unfolded and the color palette utilized that did it for me; in hindsight, it had it's own cute factor. It tells of an unlikely friendship developing from an unfortunate meeting thanks to chance, circumstance, and the particularly awesome skills of one bicycle shop owner. Both Maurice and Lotta are dedicated to their chosen crafts and when those are put on pause, it obviously saddens their hearts. When they discover their beloved bicycles, thought lost forever, were given a new life...they take it in stride and push the pedal forward on a new adventure with smile on their faces and some pep in their step...err, push.


**copy received for review; opinions are my own ( )

Maurice and Lotta both loved their bicycles, using them to sell lemonade, in Maurice's case, and to gather and give out sticks, in Lotta's. But when they meet with misfortune, in the form of a stick and a banana peel, and their bikes are wrecked, it looks like the end of their riding fun. Fortunately, what is now junk to them offers possibilities to Sid, the bicycle repairman, and he cobbles together a new mega-bike. It is this new vehicle that brings Maurice and Lotta together...

The third picture-book I have read from author Carter Higgins, after her This Is Not a Valentine and Everything You Need for a Treehouse, and the fifth I have picked up from illustrator Zachariah OHora, Bikes for Sale was a book I expected to like far more than I did. Somehow, despite appreciating the cute artwork, done in acrylic, the story itself fell flat for me. I couldn't really manage to muster up any interest in the two main characters or their bicycle-related drama, and the concluding episode involving their friendship elicited no heartwarming feeling. It's hard to say what went wrong here, but this one just didn't work, perhaps because it felt too much like a list of happenings, and not enough like an actual story. Readers looking for engaging picture-books featuring bicycles might want to pick up Alison Farrell's Cycle City instead, or possibly Larissa Theule's recent Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face. ( )