She rides like the Wind: The Story of Alfonsina Strada

by Joan Negrescolor, Little Gestalten (Editor)

Overview

She was considered the “devil in her skirt” and “queen of pedals”: Italian cycling icon Alfonsina Strada made a lot of headlines in the 1920s when she competed in the prestigious Giro d'Italia bike race - despite the rules because only men were allowed to participate. The story of this extraordinary, courageous woman tells as fast as the wind: about her childhood in the Italian province, her love of cycling, her longing for freedom and an impressive career. The multi-award-winning Spanish illustrator and writer Joan Negrescolor presents with his colorfully illustrated picture book a plea for overcoming gender stereotypes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783899558531
Publisher:	Gestalten
Publication date:	08/18/2020
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Award-winning illustrator and author Joan Negrescolor’s work is full of expressive characters. The winner of the Junceda Award 2018 and other international prizes, he has been a professional illustrator since 2008 and worked on several non-profit cultural initiatives geared towards social change and awareness. This is his 6th book.

Editorial Reviews

"Dedicated in part to every woman who refuses to yield” — KIRKUS REVIEWS

From the Publisher

2020-06-30
Dedicated in part to “every woman who refuses to yield,” this Portuguese import (via Germany) depicts the childhood and rise to fame of pioneering cyclist Alfonsina Strada.

Front endpapers introduce the town in which Alfonsina lives in what appears to be the late-19th or early-20th century (no dates are provided, but wagons make an appearance), with peasants and a general with an “imperial mustache.” Cycling posters are in Italian, placing the story in Europe. Alfonsina’s father trades a basket of chickens for a large bike. It’s too big for his daughter, and children in town taunt her (one even mooning her) and call her “tomboy” for riding it. She dons men’s clothing and eventually masters the bike, winning her first race at 13. “Faster than the wind” and in appropriate riding gear as an adult, she races in cities across Europe, earning the name “the Pedal Queen.” The posterlike illustrations have an almost constructivist look in spots and feature a limited palette of only five colors, including a nearly fluorescent yellow. Townspeople in the distance, primarily depicted in the book’s copper shade, are often depicted with no facial features, the focus being on the small girl on the oversized bike, learning to master it but often wreaking havoc in crowds. The absence of any backmatter leaves readers wondering precisely how Strada was so groundbreaking and will have curious children seeking additional information about the Italian cyclist elsewhere.

An incomplete introduction to a trailblazing athlete. (Informational picture book. 5-10)

Kirkus Reviews