Tricycle [Hardcover]

Elisa Amado (Author), Alfonso Ruano (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Margarita lives in a mansion. When she climbs her favorite tree, she can look down into the beautiful garden below. She can also see the small house next door where her friend Rosario and her family live. One day she sees Rosario and her brother dragging her tricycle into their yard and hiding it under a pile of boxes. Margarita decides to lie and protect her friends — but is she really helping them? This sensitive story illustrated in magic realist style powerfully presents complex issues of friendship, maturity, and social standing.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Class differences are seldom part of stories for very young children, but this book tells of rich and poor from the viewpoint of young Margarita, who climbs a tree on her rich family's estate and sees the shacks on the other side of the hedge, where her friend Rosario lives. Margarita watches as Rosario and her brother take her tricycle, but she doesn't say anything about it, even when her mother's lunch guests spew prejudice ("They're all thieves"). The pictures show the Latino characters in a tropical setting, playing with the thick, leafy hedge that separates them. The text is spare, and the richly colored acrylic art, reminiscent of Anthony Browne's work, is just on the edge of magical realism. Although there is no overt message, there is much to talk about. Link this with Browne's Voices in the Park (1998). Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Groundwood Books (May 16, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0888996144
• ISBN-13: 978-0888996145
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 9.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,934,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pathetic, August 23, 2007

By 

Squidly "Squidly" (Burlington, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tricycle (Hardcover)

This is the definition of a horrible book. Synopsis: A child witnesses her poor (shack-dwelling) neighbors stealing her tricycle. She makes up a lie to her mother, but the adults suspect that the neighbors are behind it. They mutter that they should be "shot", and the child overhears it.

The End.

Seriously. Beyond bizarre.

1.0 out of 5 stars Why?, September 21, 2011

By 

Farm girl (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tricycle (Hardcover)

Why did a tree have to die for this book? There is no joy in this book, nothing uplifting, encouraging, humorous, etc. So, again I ask, why did the author bother writing this book?

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for Everyone, May 14, 2011

By 

E. Kennen (Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tricycle (Hardcover)

The protagonist lives in a mansion. Her next door neighbors are painfull poor. One day, they steal her bicycle. For reasons all her own, she says nothing. But when she overhears adults talking badly -- threatening what she does not understand is figurative violence -- about them, she becomes literally sick with envy.

I grew up in an island where the good neighborhood was a block away from tin-roofed slums. Later on, I lived in a city in the states where crack houses and beautiful mansions stood side-by-side. So I both get and appreciate the class distinctions that this book refers to.

I was surprised at all the 1 star reviews of this book. Yes, it is a very unusual book. Yes, the ending leaves a lot unresolved (but, hey, that's life). And yes, it is probably inappropriate for very young children. But the "very young" are not the only ones that picture books are made for.