Get on Your Bike

K-Gr 2—One day, while in the midst of a spat with his friend William, Bobby is told to "get on your bike and leave!" which he promptly does. As he travels through town, the little panda thinks about how angry he is, only pausing in his rant to decide which direction to turn. Slowly the many sights and sounds of the busy afternoon have a calming effect on him, until, finally, he comes to realize how needless the whole argument was, and heads back home. Although this is a lovely little story about this pair's argument and reconciliation, readers will likely find that their attention is drawn more to the prominent artwork. Each multimedia painting spreads out over two oversize pages, filling the vast majority of the space with anthropomorphized animals going about their daily lives. It can take a moment to spot Bobby in the busy scenes, even when he is dressed in a red hoodie. This works out fine though, because it pushes readers to take the time to absorb what we see, just like Bobby does. The pleasant designs, nicely balanced colors, and underlying texture have a similar relaxing effect.