The Patchwork Bike

The Patchwork Bike
A boy sits atop his patchwork bike, with the book's title above it in yellow writing.
1st Edition Cover
Author Maxine Beneba Clarke
Illustrator Van Thanh Rudd
Country Australia
Language English
Genre Children's picture book
Publisher Lothian Children's Books
Publication date
October 25, 2016
Pages 30 (unpaginated)
ISBN 978-0-73441-668-1
OCLC 1037337688

The Patchwork Bike is a 2016 children's book by Maxine Beneba Clarke and illustrated by Van Thanh Rudd.

Plot

A girl who lives at the edge of a "no-go desert" describes the titular bike that she and her brothers made out of found materials.

Publication history

Reception

The book was well reviewed, receiving starred reviews in The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, The Horn Book Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal, who also named it to their list of best picture books of 2018. The New York Times Book Editor Maria Russo called it an "exuberant... Clarke’s poetically compressed language hurtles joyfully along, while Rudd’s illustrations, made on cardboard boxes with spirited swaths of paint, burst with irrepressible life."

It has also been reviewed by Reading Time, Books+Publishing, and Magpies.

Awards