Joseph’s Big Ride By Terry Farish & Illustrated by Ken Daley | Beautiful Blackbird Children's Book Festival

Joseph’s Big Ride

By Terry Farish
& Illustrated by Ken Daley

Joseph wants only one thing: to ride a bike. In the refugee camp where he lives, Joseph helps one of the older boys fix his bike, but he’s too small to ride it. Joseph and his mother travel to America, where he meets Whoosh, who owns a red bike. When Whoosh crashes her bike, Joseph offers to fix it. His big chance has finally come, except that Joseph doesn’t know how to ride. He crashes a few times, but he sticks with it and soon is riding the bike! Inspired by the author’s interviews with refugee children from Sudan, this book is a story about immigrant experiences, determination, and friendship.

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Ken Daley

Ken’s passion lies with stories that reflect his heritage as the child of immigrants, his connection to the Caribbean, and the richness and expanse of the African Diaspora. As an award-winning illustrator, he is known for his use of bold colors, and authentic details to depict Black Life, in all its iterations. Ken was born in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada to parents who emigrated from Dominica, West Indies. He has exhibited his artwork within Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, and his work can be found in numerous private collections. Ken has illustrated five children’s books – Auntie Luce’s Talking Paintings, Joseph’s Big Ride, A Feast for Joseph, In the Spirit of a Dream, and Jayden’s Impossible Garden.

Watch

As you listen to Terry Farish read, invite young readers to think about their first bike and how exciting it was for them to ride that bike. Or, invite them to pay attention to all of the different tools needed to fix a bike – can you name them all? One of the wonderful things about this book is that readers get to travel across different landscapes with Joseph and his mother. What are some of the differences you hear about or notice between the place where Joseph lived in Sudan and the place he moves to in the US?

Joseph’s Big Ride

Make/Do/Learn

Creating a Big Ride

Ever since he first saw a bicycle in the refugee camp, Joseph has wanted to ride. We invite you to create a “big ride” using paper shapes, fasteners, any art materials you have on hand, and the spinning wheels of your imagination. Let’s go!

Joseph’s Big Ride Craft

Move like Joseph and Whoosh!

When Joseph arrives in America, he watches a girl whoosh by on her red bike! Will he get to ride? After an exchange of art and few repairs, they are off on a two-wheeled friendship adventure. Grab some friends of your own, collect the action words in the book, and retell this story with your body! Pedal, everybody!