SHE RIDES LIKE THE WIND

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.

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