The Running Machine: The Invention of the Very First Bicycle

In 1816, the “year without a summer,” ash from a distant volcanic explosion renders the sky dark and cold, “from Beijing to Brussels, Naples to New York.” Digitally finished multimedia spreads in singed blacks and flame reds signal the effect. Snow appears in July, food is scarce, and horses—the only form of nonhuman transportation—languish. Negley recreates the birth of the running machine, the ancestor of the modern bicycle, as a young German forester named Karl Drais (1785–1851) ponders human-powered travel. An accident that sends two cart wheels spinning in line inspires the inventor, who adds axles and a wooden beam. Explanatory prose describes Drais assembling the parts (“He added handlebars for steering, like reins”). Taken for a public test run, the running machine works. And its success means not just an invention in this tale of ingenuity and persistence, but “wonder in the world again.” Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. An author’s note cites invented story elements. Ages 4–8. (July)