Amy Novesky

A picture book biography by an award-winning team about the first woman to ride a motorcycle around the world One day, a girl gets on her motorcycle and rides away. She wants to wander the world. To go . . . Elsewhere. This is the true story of the first woman to ride a motorcycle around the world alone. Each place has something to teach her. Each place is beautiful. And despite many flat tires and falls, she learns to always get back up and keep riding. Award-winning author Amy Novesky and Governor General's Award-winning illustrator Julie Morstad have teamed up for a spectacular celebration of girl power and resilience.

Girl on a Motorcycle

renee badenoch

No doubt about it, this book is written in a lovely prose and has striking illustrations. It tells the story of Anne-France Dautheville, the first woman to solo travel the world by motorcycle. While the language and images are beautiful, the book had an uncomfortable unexamined privilege of Anne's ability to travel the world as a white and wealthy woman. The parts of the book that took place in the middle east seemed to me (also a white woman) to to have a bit of voyeurism, and I was really annoyed at the anecdote about mechanics in India fixing her bike for free and having her pay with "hand-drawn hearts and handshakes." What the heck? A person with the wealth and resources to travel the world on a motorcycle demands free labor from the people in the countries she visits and that's supposed to be heartwarming? It was gross.

Girl on a Motorcycle

Reviews