The Girl And The Bicycle

The Girl and the Bicycle by Mark Pett is a wordless book but contains many lessons. The story starts with a little girl and her brother passing a toy store that has a green bike sitting in the front window. The girl falls in love with the bike but does not have enough money to buy it. She decides to start working to get some money and she rakes leaves for a nice woman she knows. She ends up having to work for a long time and helps shovel the woman's snow too. She keeps working until one day she has just the right amount of money to buy the bike. But when she arrives at the store, the bike is gone. Instead of being so upset, she decides to buy a small bike for her little brother. As her little brother plays on his bike, the girl decides to go back to the woman's house. When she arrives, the woman has a surprise for the little girl.
This is a great story about working hard and being happy for someone else. The little girl works so hard in the story and even though the bike is gone when she gets there, she gets a gift for her brother instead of just buying something else for herself. This is story could be used in a lower elementary classroom for students who need to learn about responsibility and working hard. Students can also help to make up the words for the story which can help them with their writing skills. This book can also help students to notice colors because the whole book is in white and brown except for the green bike. Students can help decide what that means and how color can help something stand out.