Thoughts on the book written by Patricia McCormick and Mevan Babakar, Illustrated by Yas Imamura
This is an autobiographical picture book about a girl named Mevan who grew up in Kurdistan surrounded by a large and loving extended family. Her immediate family was forced to flee because of an oppressive government. They went from Turkey to Russia to the Netherlands. There she sees bicycles for the first time. Everyone is riding! She also meets a man named Egbert who helps her family and other refugees living in the same building. He notices how isolated Mevan is and brings her a bicycle. She learns to ride and soon feels just like one of the other kids. Although I grew up in a working class family with very little money I never experienced food or housing insecurity. It is hard for me to imagine what it is like for a child to experience both of these things.
A year later her family leaves for England where they can have a permanent home. She has to leave the Netherlands without saying thank you to Egbert. The next page reads, “But she never forgot the feeling that bike gave her. And she never forgot the man who taught her how big a small act of kindness can be.”
In the epilogue we learn that Mevan returned to the Netherlands as an adult and was able to track down Egbert. She was able to thank him for his generosity.
She describes the experience more fully on her website. “I remember a kind man who was an aid worker at the refugee camp we were staying at. He gifted me a bike when I was five. We didn’t have toys, we barely had food, and this was such a big gift that I had to reimagine my own self-worth! I remember how that moment made me feel, it made me feel loved, and cared for and seen. And I realized that I had been carrying around that feeling with me ever since thanks to this moment. It made me realize that even in our darkest times, there will always be shining acts of kindness.”
Most people remember getting their first bike. It is a big event in a child’s life. Learning to ride is an important accomplishment. Like learning to read or swim, learning to ride can be difficult, but the child’s efforts are rewarded with a sense of freedom. I remember what a challenge it was for me to learn to ride.
In The Bicycle there is no verbal description of Mevan’s struggles but there is a double page with multiple images of Mevan learning to ride. In one image she looks a little frightened but it seems that she learned quickly. In the picture her father is waving to her as she rides past and her mother looks very proud. Egbert is smiling.
My very first bicycle was a gift from my grandfather. I was eight years old. It was a red Schwinn 26 inch single speed. My younger sister got a blue 24 inch bike. When my grandfather was a young man, he was a coal miner in England. He owned a single speed bike and on the weekends he went for long rides. He knew how important it is to own a bicycle! When I moved to Burlington 40 years ago my first bike was a gift.
Through its programs Local Motion gives the gift of riding to many people in Vermont. They advocate for bicycle infrastructure and also for safe routes to schools. They teach children basic riding skills. I have been lucky to benefit from the generosity of others in my biking life. I am proud to be part of Local Motion and the Burlington bike community.
About the Author:
Peter Burns is a long-time bike enthusiast, and one of the original year-round bike riders in the greater Burlington area. In addition to writing about walking and biking, Peter teaches a variety of bike workshops. He also works at a group home for people with psychiatric disabilities, teaches classes for the Vermont Humanities Council, teaches swimming at the Burlington YMCA, and is a regular host of Storytelling VT. You can contact Peter at [email protected].