In 1889, twenty-five-year old Lemuel Dearce heads for Chicago where he gets swept up in the country's new craze: bicycles. Hiring on as a worker in a bicycle manufacturing plant, he masters the technology and seeks to apply it as a bicycle repairman. This takes him to Minneapolis in 1893, a city in the full grip of bicycle mania. By 1910, married with three children, he watches his dream of a career in bicycles collapse as the automobile takes center stage. Lemuel then gets caught up in the widespread enthusiasm for scientific farming of dry lands out west. He brings his family to eastern Montana where he files a homestead claim on a desolate patch of prairie. Hardships and separations plague the family. But by 1917 he manages to secure legal title to the land, only to see it devastated by the drought of 1918. With his dreams in tatters, Lemuel once again searches for a new beginning.

Bassey and Thomas were best friends. They both had one wish which was to own a bicycle someday. Their fathers promised to get them bicycles, if they take first positions in class. As a result of the promise, Bassey and Thomas studied hard and excelled in their academics and took first positions in their respective classes. Their fathers honoured their promise and bought them their dream bicycles. Bassey made the bicycle his priority and spent all his time riding. He neglected his books and his best friend. He later got into trouble with some street kids after a bicycle race and his bicycle was totally destroyed. Unlike Thomas, he wanted a bicycle badly, he got it, but he didn't learn how to keep it. In the end, he learnt that a good friend is worth more than a million bicycles. He also learnt that he had to put his books first and his focus shouldn't be on the gift but on the things he did to earn the gift.

Laura loves adventure and has a big dream. But is her plan to cycle 7,000 kilometres across South America without any money - relying on the kindness and goodwill of the people she meets - too much, even for her? Laura's incredible journey begins in Ecuador where she faces tough climbs, hunger and homesickness. Can her determination and resilience help her to achieve her dream?

This informative picture book shares facts about bicycles and includes fun rhymes, a mini-quiz, a pullout page, and more to keep kids interested as they learn. Full color..

First published Methuen, 1984. Miffy dreams of being old enough to ride a bike

Can Marcel make the ride of his life? Marcel loves riding his bicycle, whether he's racing through the streets of his small town in France or making bread deliveries for his parents' bakery. He dreams of someday competing in the Tour de France, the greatest bicycle race. But ever since Germany's occupation of France began two years ago, in 1940, the race has been canceled. Now there are soldiers everywhere, interrupting Marcel's rides with checkpoints and questioning.Then Marcel learns two big secrets, and he realizes there are worse things about the war than a canceled race. When he later discovers that his friend's entire family is in imminent danger, Marcel knows he can help -- but it will involve taking a risky bicycle ride to pass along covert information. And when nothing ends up going according to plan, it's up to him to keep pedaling and think quickly... because his friend, her family, and his own future hang in the balance.

Sean Conway was stuck in a life dead end of his own making when he heard about a round the world cycling race. He was immediately inspired – but it was a huge undertaking and he’d hardly been on a bike in years. Could he really cycle all the way round the world, solo and unsupported? Six months later, after completing a punishing training schedule and packing up everything he owned into boxes, Sean was in Greenwich Park on the start line of the adventure of a lifetime. Soon he was way ahead of schedule, averaging 180 miles per day, and on course to break the round the world cycling record. But then disaster struck, and Sean was forced to confront the possibility that he may not be able to complete the race... In the course of his 16,000-mile journey, Sean travelled the famous pan-American highway across the Atacama Desert, outran tornados, relied on fellow travellers to ferry water across the Australian outback, and inadvertently joined a cycle club in Mumbai. He learnt things about himself he didn’t know and rediscovered a spirit of adventure that changed everything. This is a book about an amazing and sometimes incredibly difficult journey, but it’s also a book about never giving up when there’s an opportunity to follow your dreams.

A determined 12-year-old girl bikes across the country in this quirky and charming debut middle grade novel. Introverted Bicycle has lived most of her life at the Mostly Silent Monastery in Washington, D.C. When her guardian, Sister Wanda, announces that Bicycle is going to attend a camp where she will learn to make friends, Bicycle says no way and sets off on her bike for San Francisco to meet her idol, a famous cyclist, certain he will be her first true friend. Who knew that a ghost would haunt her handlebars and that she would have to contend with bike-hating dogs, a bike-loving horse, bike-crushing pigs, and a mysterious lady dressed in black. Over the uphills and downhills of her journey, Bicycle discovers that friends are not such a bad thing to have after all, and that a dozen cookies really can solve most problems.

In the late nineteenth century, Lillie gains friendship and help with a spelling bee from a neighbor, Frances Willard, who braves criticism to speak about women's rights and learn to ride a bicycle. Includes historical notes.