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Pedal Power

Author(s): Allan Drummond

07 Affordable and Clean Energy

Today if you visit Amsterdam, you'll see bikes everywhere - they rule the road! But that wasn't always the case. Fifty years ago, Amsterdam was so crowded with vehicles that bicyclists could hardly move. But mums and kids relied on their bikes to get from place to place in the city. What could they do? Women like Maarjte van Putten and her friends led protests, and one day, a whole swarm of women and children took over the new big tunnel meant just for vehicles to show what a little pedal power could do. They were arrested, but when the women and children arrived to cookies and lemonade at the police station, they knew they were well on their way to making a big change.


Product Information

A non fiction picture book about the women and children who led the social movement that made Amsterdam the most bike friendly city in the world.

-Drummond, whose earlier environment-related picture books include Energy Island (2011) and Green City (2016), tells a true story that offers a bit of dramatic tension as well as broad relevance and child appeal. . .Illustrated with breezy, expressive drawings and colorful washes, the informative text flows well, narrating the story, explaining what made the roads bike-friendly, and briefly explaining how cycling benefits cities. A heartening picture book about bicycles, activism, and social change.- --Booklist-The author surrounds this simply told story with endpapers showing bicycle efficiency, bicycle contributions to social progress, great cyclists, and great bikes of the world. He includes statistics about bike-share programs and reasons for using bicycles to get around. As he did in other tales of community transformation, he decorates his text with cheerful pen-and-ink sketches with watercolor wash. . .The [author's] note recalls his original goal: showing 'how wonderful it feels to ride a bike, particularly in a city.' That joy is evident throughout; it might even convince some readers to give it a try. Drummond rolls along with another successful story of environmental change.- --Kirkus Reviews-The text is well written, engaging, and concise . . . The bright cartoon-style ink and color washes, with flowing lines, create the impression of movement, which is well suited to the subject matter . . . An intriguing nonfiction picture book to augment the community action section and for casual reading.- --School Library Journal-Dashed line and loosely brushed watercolor wash pictures have a light-hearted energy appropriate to a movement all about, well, movement.- --The Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books

Allan Drummond is the author and illustrator of many books, including Tin Lizzie, Energy Island, and Green City. He studied in the Royal College of Art in London and currently lives in Suffolk, England.

General Fields

  • : 9780374305277
  • : Farrar, Straus & Giroux
  • : Farrar, Straus & Giroux
  • : 0.454
  • : April 2017
  • : 254mm X 254mm X 4mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Allan Drummond
  • : Hardback
  • : 1
  • : English
  • : 388.34720949
  • : 40
  • : full colour illustrations