Bicycle Girl: Jyoti Kumari's Amazing Journey Across India: (A True Story of Bravery, Determination, and Family Love Set in India During the Pandemic -

Description: "[An] inspiring variation on the archetypal hero's journey in which personal courage, family loyalty, and the broader cultural context all play equally strong roles." --School Library Journal

Beautifully illustrated with scenes of contemporary Indian life, this inspiring (and true) story follows a young girl's remarkable bicycle journey across India to bring her father safely home as pandemic restrictions take hold.

It's early in the pandemic in India. The trains have been shut down to prevent contagion. For Jyoti, as for millions of migrant workers, getting home with her injured father will require enormous ingenuity and gumption. Follow the real-life story of a girl who--desperate for her father to survive--rode almost a thousand miles across India with him on the back of a hot-pink twenty-dollar bicycle. Her amazing story, relayed for a young audience by author Garen Thomas and reporter Suhasini Raj, is a portrait of an unassuming girl who made an extraordinary decision and became celebrated across India, breaking entrenched stereotypes of caste and gender. This story of love, determination, problem-solving, and a pink bicycle will speak to young people everywhere.

Review Quotes: [An] inspiring variation on the archetypal hero's journey in which personal courage, family loyalty, and the broader cultural context all play equally strong roles.
--School Library Journal

Joshi's zingy digital illustrations in bold, saturated colors incorporate fantastical elements including Hindu gods and goddesses, while Thomas and Raj's concise text incorporates many references to Hinduism contextualized through illustrative details. . . . A stirring demonstration of what we're truly capable of when we believe in ourselves.
--Kirkus Reviews

The illustrations depict Jyoti's interior journey--buoyed by gods, spirits, and nonhuman life-forms--as she pushes forward and ultimately succeeds. Back matter provides important context and details about this remarkable young woman and her deep-rooted resilience.
--Booklist

Jyoti's inspirational real-life feat contains moments both sweet and thrilling, with the story and images working together particularly well when determination lights up her eyes as she fills "herself with the aag of Kali," and her bike turns into a tiger, morphing her into a sort of love-fueled superhero. . . .Young readers will cheer to learn that Jyoti's perseverance earned her international acclaim, easing her family's financial burdens.
--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Across saturated scenes, Joshi's lushly rendered digital illustrations incorporate Indian motifs and Hindu iconography. . . .
--Publishers Weekly