A young orphan's hopes and an unusual bicycle bring about magical results in this imaginative middle grade adventure from award-winning author Bill Harley.
Life is an adventure for ten-year-old Darius Frobisher. His eccentric father Rudy sells insurance four days a week. The other three days he goes on exotic journeys. But when his father flies off in a hot air balloon and doesn't come back, Darius's happy, carefree life suddenly comes to an end.
He is sent to live with his notoriously nasty Aunt Ida, where he has to sleep alone in a cold, damp basement and dodge the horrible teenage boy next door.
Darius sees a ray of hope when he finds a rusty old bicycle in the basement and begins to repair it in secret. Then one day he is startled to see an old man with long flowing hair riding a bicycle across the sky! That gives Darius a strange and wonderful idea. Now he knows what he has to do to get away from his miserable life.
"This pleasant blend of melodrama and fantasy will make youngsters frown over Darius's misery and then smile in anticipation of the predictably happy ending." —School Library Journal
Bill Harley is a two-time Grammy Award–winning storyteller, musician, and author who has been writing and performing for kids and families for more than forty years. He has appeared nationally in theaters, schools, libraries, festivals and conferences, as a workshop leader and keynote and inspirational speaker. His picture books and middle-grade novels have won wide acclaim, from Bank Street School of Education Best Books, Children's Choice Awards, Green Earth Book Awards, and pick of the list from ABA. Harley was called "the Mark Twain of contemporary children's music" by Entertainment Weekly. He lives in Massachusetts.
A young orphan's hopes and an unusual bicycle bring about magical results in this imaginative middle grade adventure from award-winning author Bill Harley.
Life is an adventure for ten-year-old Darius Frobisher. His eccentric father Rudy sells insurance four days a week. The other three days he goes on exotic journeys. But when his father flies off in a hot air balloon and doesn't come back, Darius's happy, carefree life suddenly comes to an end.
He is sent to live with his notoriously nasty Aunt Ida, where he has to sleep alone in a cold, damp basement and dodge the horrible teenage boy next door.
Darius sees a ray of hope when he finds a rusty old bicycle in the basement and begins to repair it in secret. Then one day he is startled to see an old man with long flowing hair riding a bicycle across the sky! That gives Darius a strange and wonderful idea. Now he knows what he has to do to get away from his miserable life.
Praise
"This pleasant blend of melodrama and fantasy will make youngsters frown over Darius's misery and then smile in anticipation of the predictably happy ending." —School Library Journal
Author
Bill Harley is a two-time Grammy Award–winning storyteller, musician, and author who has been writing and performing for kids and families for more than forty years. He has appeared nationally in theaters, schools, libraries, festivals and conferences, as a workshop leader and keynote and inspirational speaker. His picture books and middle-grade novels have won wide acclaim, from Bank Street School of Education Best Books, Children's Choice Awards, Green Earth Book Awards, and pick of the list from ABA. Harley was called "the Mark Twain of contemporary children's music" by Entertainment Weekly. He lives in Massachusetts.
