Story was lacking a little something. It was okay but not great. I fear that it's been translated off from what the story should be. My advice would be to re-translate it.

Simple, fun book about learning to try new things and getting back up when one has fallen. Great storyline.

However... I was bothered by the boy just riding off into nowhere. I was also bothered by his following his "furry friend." I just felt really uncomfortable with a young child wandering off by himself and following a stranger who gives him gifts. I feel it sends a mixed message to children. If you read this with your young ones, please also have a discussion about boundaries and strangers. I just couldn't get past this facet of the story.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received through Netgalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.

Ready to Ride is a picturebook written and illustrated by Sébastien Pelon. A little boy is told to play outside by his mum and bumps into an imaginary friend with whom he goes for a bike ride. At first he finds it difficult to keep up, but with the imaginary friend’s help he takes off the bike’s training wheels and learns to ride.

Ready to Ride is a fun story with smooth, charming illustrations. The boy's efforts to learn to ride is well done ad sweet. The story is certainly light-hearted, but still manages to encourage kids to keep trying and practicing, showing them that putting in some effort is the only way to learn and get better. I enjoyed the read, but must admit that there were some formatting issues with my digital galley, which I know will not effect readers in the final copy. That made it slightly more challenging to read- however it was worth the effort and I found the book to be enjoyable and sweet.

Ready to Ride is a French import that shows a little boy learning to ride his bike without training wheels with the help of a large, fluffy white monster (who causes the situation by eating the boy's training wheels). The boy goes through the stages of bike-learning and is ultimately triumphant. The story is missing a spark that would have turned it from good to great, but it is still a solid story that will be valued by new bike riders everywhere.

This is a cute book (a combination picture book/graphic novel) for young children. A young boy has finished his chores and played at home. He sees a large creature and hops on his bike to follow him. He can't keep up and wants to take off his training wheels to go faster. He is scared, but with the help of his new friend, he accomplishes this task. He heads off on a rural adventure where he can ride with few problems. It is nice that his large furry friend reminds him of bike safety. This is a cute book that needs to be taken at face value, the imagination of this young boy has helped him gain the confidence to ride his bike without training wheels. If the issue of riding off without his parent's knowledge bothers readers, then just discussing with the child that this is a story and the creature is only imaginary with the listener or child should be sufficient. The illustrations are simple, yet imaginative and beautiful. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this story to read. The rating, opinions and ideas are my own.

This was a cute story that teaches perseverance while learning to ride a bike without training wheels, which many students can relate to. I loved the vivid illustrations and they were very imaginative. From a teacher librarian’s perspective, if I were to use this story during a read aloud and tie it in to a character trait lesson about perseverance, I think it would be important to also have a small teachable moment about stranger danger (even though this stranger was a large monster like creature) and about riding your bike in a familiar place and not going too far from home. Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

The book Ready to Ride is strange. The story is a boy that goes out on his own and starts riding his bike and meets an odd bear-type creature. They ride around until it starts to rain and then they have to go home. The pages alternate between big pages with a few words and then pages with almost comic-strip type text.

The story doesn't make a ton of sense and there are typos ("break" instead of "brake") which take away from the story as well. The whole plot doesn't really follow well and it would be hard for a child to follow as well. I'd anticipate the age range for this book to be 3-5 years old although it's hard to recommend.

This is a WONDERFUL book!. This is the story of a boy who learns to ride his bike without training wheels, with the assistance of a very unique helpmate, The charming illustrations could almost tell the story all by themselves but then the reader would be denied the boy's endearing observations about himself, his new friend, and their adventure. An added bonus - children in the US will learn a new word for "bandaid." Highly recommended!

An absolutely adorable book about the joys of learning self-confidence disguised as an adorable book about bicycle riding. The art is perfectly charming.

This was just okay for me, it wasn't really my cup of tea. The didn't really feel like it would work well in classroom setting.

This book tells the story of a young boy who is bored but ends up going out on his bike that has stabilisers on. He meets a mysterious ball of fur wearing a pink hat and riding a bicycle. They go off together, Before too long the boy can’t keep up, as his extra wheels are slowing him down. The ball of fur takes off the wheels and teaches the little boy how to ride his bike. They ride off to the countryside and have the best day ever, on,y for the ball of fur to disappear when the little boy turned around. Was he ever really there? An excellent and engaging book that my six year old grandson loved.

A truly beautiful book visually, with some beautifully drawn landscapes and cityscapes. It's a gentle story about the frustrations of learning to ride and bike and picking yourself back up again, under the guise of a little boy being helped by a mysterious big creature in a red hat.

Whilst the story and visuals are indeed lovely, and there are a good variety of page layouts which are all effective, one can't help but think that the helpful creature is very reminiscent of Baymax from the film 'Big Hero 6', and so it doesn't feel wholly original.

The most important thing, however, is that it's utterly charming, and would make a fantastic story for helping your child persevere if they are struggling to learn to ride a bike.

A little boy is very bored. The weather is dull and that makes him want to stay inside. He's done some playing, reading, colouring, drawing, and sticking. He's run out of ideas to keep himself busy. His mom gives him a suggestion:

"Go and play outside, sweetheart.
But be careful - and don't go too far!"

The little boy takes his mom's advice and out he goes. Once outdoors he discovers that the street is empty... but is it really? In the distance he notices a funny shape getting closer and closer. He soon realizes that it is a huge ball of fur wearing a pink hat and it glides right past him riding a teeny-tiny bike.

Curiousity overtakes the little guy and he hops on his bike and follows after this weird stranger wanting to find out more about him.

Luckily the odd creature is a friendly, caring stranger who after eating the little boys training wheels (yes you heard me right, he did swallow them up)... takes it upon himself to guide, support and finally see the little boy accomplish the awesome task of riding a two-wheeler all on his own just like the big boys.

This book is about friendship and the joy and celebration of learning to ride a two-wheeler independently. This is a fun, imaginative book that kids will love I'm sure. A side-note is that it is a teaching moment to talk about riding off all on your own and following strangers that you don't know. This day and age that can pose a huge safety factor and needs to be addressed after the book is read.

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Young cyclists can take inspiration from READY TO RIDE, in which a little boy meets up with an imaginary friend for a bike ride. Lovely soft illustrations and a creative design captivate young readers learning freestyle cycling. Highly recommended!

Grateful to the Quarto Publishing Group - words & pictures and NetGalley for the early copy, in exchange for my true review.

#ReadyToRide #NetGalley

The illustrations in the book are masterful. I would hang any or all on my walls as art. The story is interesting. It doesn't have a solid flow. It takes some of its ideas from graphic novels, with various little pictures showing the reader the story progression. A boy is bored. His mom sends him outside to play where he meets a giant white fur ball in a pink hat. And this fur ball is going to help our boy learn to ride his bike without fear. I like the story, but because of it’s set up, I don't think I would read it at storytime, but I would buy it for someone as a gift.

It felt very aimless. If a child was super interested in bicycles I suppose this would be a good one.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The illustrations in this book are simple, yet beautiful in a gentle way. I enjoyed how the illustrations could flow, even when there are multiple illustrations on a page.

This book tells the story of a young boy who is learning how to ride a bike without wheels with an "imaginary creature." Although there is no speech from this creature, the boy and the creature connect and are able to have a good day together, while learning how to ride a bike.

While I understand that there could be moral concerns and discussions about a boy leaving with a stranger, when looking at the story from a simplistic view, it is a cute, sweet story.

This is a young children's book which seems to convey the message that it's just fine for a young kid to go out by himself, meet a stranger, wander off with the stranger without saying a word to mommy, spend hours gone, and then come back and offer no explanation. I felt it was entirely inappropriate and the wrong message to send to kids.

The child in question wants to go out and play on his bike, and the poster parent for bad parenting, who is the kid's mom, lets him out on the street with no supervision and no safety gear such as a helmet or elbow/knee pads. He sees some weird giant creature which is riding a bike and so he follows this creature, which then teaches the kid to ride without his safety wheels.

He does give the kid a helmet, but this is an afterthought and indicates that it's okay to accept gifts from complete strangers. I'm sorry but there are far better ways of achieving the end here than teaching a kid that it's fine to do the things depicted here with someone you don't know and to wander off with a stranger without a word to mom or dad. There are far better ways to have written this, and I cannot approve of this book at all.

Fun story about a young boy learning to ride his bike on two wheels with the aid of his imaginary friend, a large white bear. The language is a little stilted and clumsy at times, I fear some of the charm has been lost in the translation, and I found it difficult to suspend my disbelief at this small boy being sent out to play on his own by his mother. I'm sure young children wouldn't give it a thought but for me it niggled at me and spoilt my enjoyment of the tale. The problem is this is more of a day to day story of a child's life and I don't think it rings true. I loved the illustrations however, the sight of the huge bear perched precariously on a bicycle was funny and endearing.

2.★

The illustrations in this strange children's books are charming, but the story is awkward and the language stilted, possibly due to the translation.

A little boy who is bored, takes his bicycle with training wheels out for a ride. A big, white, "creature" with a pink hat comes down on the street and they cycle off together. The little boy thinks the training wheels are slowing him down, so the creature removes them and EATS them!

The boy tries riding on his "big boy" bike, falls off at one point, and the "big ball of fur" as the boy refers to the creature later, hugs him, picks him up and puts a plaster (bandage) on his leg.

I felt nervous about a tiny little fellow deciding to follow a complete stranger (even a furry one) for miles across the countryside (according to the illustrations), and for such a long time that they lie down for a rest on the grass. The little boy is shown sleeping on top of the big white creature.

Pretty to look at, but not something I'm comfortable recommending, I'm afraid.

Thanks to Quarto Publishing and NetGalley for a preview copy.