Elisa Amado, illustrated by Alfonso Ruano,
Tricycle
Groundwood Books, 2007

Rating: E*

Tricycle is a provocative story that confronts complicated social issues with a minimal number of words and pictures. We are introduced to Margarita, a young girl who lives auspiciously in an unnamed Spanish speaking country. Her family’s wealth is juxtaposed with the poverty of her friends, Rosario and Chepe, who lives in a shack just beyond the tall hedge bordering Margarita’s property. The scenario is complicated when Margarita witnesses the theft of her tricycle by her friends from next door. Through text and illustration the reader is confronted with moral and ethical questions ranging from social injustices to values of right and wrong. The author leaves the verdict to the readers, refraining from offering a personal solution, leaving the reader to ponder the inadequacies of simple solutions to right and wrong. The subject of this book is for mature audiences despite its picture book format. It is not a story for the very young, rather it serves well as an opening for discussion on complicated human questions that defy trite solutions.

This book would be appropriate for social studies themes on social justice. It might be suitable for use with younger readers who are mature enough to discuss complicated social issues. This book would not be suitable as a casual book to read to a general audience, rather, it would be a splendid book to be shared with a specific target audience who is both emotionally and intellectually ready for such a powerful discussion on the human condition. I would strongly recommend this book be reviewed to determine its suitability for specific audiences.

I would highly recommend this book to public and school libraries, with a caution to shelve this book appropriately within the library collections. I would discourage putting this book in the picture book collection for preschoolers but encourage it to be incorporated into the Picture Books for all-ages collection.

Thematic Links: Social Justice; Poverty; Friendship; Multiculturalism

Linda Berezowski
Vol.13, number 1
October 2007

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.