The Wobbly Bike by Darren McCallum illustrated by Craig Smith

The trials of learning to ride a bike linger with me decades after my mum and dad gave me a brand new bike and then my dad spent so many evenings running alongside me, holding on of course, while I practiced on the empty road below our house. The other neighborhood kids all had secondhand bikes and even now some of them remember that mine was brand new. 

Like the little girl in this story I started with a tricycle and then moved up to a bigger bike and yes it did wobble and yes it did feel out of control but remember mine was new. The bike in this story is an old one from Grandad's shed. It needs cleaning and some repairs but really that wobble is not actually the fault of the bike - it is all just part of learning and persevering. 

Bookseller blurb: How do you fix a wobbly bike? Could it be the tyres, the terrain, or maybe it might be a new rider? A joyful, multi-layered story, celebrating the unique culture of Australia's urban "top end", the precious roles of grandparents in families, the fact that kindness and encouragement, combined with practice, are the key to success, bound together with gentle humour. because laughter is always the best medicine.

Notice all the quintessentially Australian inclusions in the illustrations - hills hoist; old roller lawn mower; the back shed and the house itself which looks like a "Queenslander". I also love the natural feel of the inclusion in this book - there are indigenous kids and a child in a wheelchair - all just kids in this neighborhood which I have discovered is in Darwin. 

Here are some brief teachers notes from Lamont. 

Darren is a tradesman and the author of The Wobbly Bike, he resides in Darwin with his wife and two daughters. The Wobbly bike was inspired by his daughter Summer who referred to her bike (after the training wheels were removed) as her wobbly bike. The book is a shout out to all children, especially the ones who struggle to never give up and keep trying your personal best and is also a nod to the precious roles of Grandparents.

Craig Smith  is one of Australia's most prolific, popular and award-winning illustrators of children's books. His witty and humorous artwork combines a wonderful sense of the absurd with a fine attention to detail. Craig has illustrated book covers, fiction series (including Too Cool written by Phil Kettle), and picture books Where's Mum? (Honour Book in the 1993 CBC Picture Book of the Year Awards), Billy the Punk (shortlisted in the 1996 CBC Picture Book of the Year Awards), and Bob the Builder and the Elves. Craig's previous Penguin titles include Paul Jennings' The Cabbage Patch series, Rachel Flynn's I Hate Fridays series, Gillian Rubinstein's The Pirates' Ship and The Fairy's Wings, Doug MacLeod's Sister Madge's Book of Nuns and numerous Aussie Bites and Nibbles. (Source Storybox Library) 

He also illustrated My Dog's a Scaredy Cat and one of his earliest books was Black Dog by Christobel Mattingley (later renamed First Friend). I read Bob the Builder and the Elves to hundreds of children in my former school library. Here is his web page and you can see him working here. 

You also need to linger over the end papers - morning on the opening pages and night at the back. And unlike so many other books I have read (mostly by celebrities) recently the rhyme used for the story in this book is perfect. 

This is such a joyous book with its humour, rhyme and illustrations making something very special from something very ordinary, evoking memories, connecting kids and generations, and reminding us that things that are worthwhile are worth striving for. The Bottom Shelf

This book is sure to be a CBCA Notable title for 2025 and it might even make the short list for Early Childhood. 

I love the work of Craig Smith and I think it is easy to connect this newest book with one of his masterpieces - Dreadful David.