Bikes for Sale by Carter Higgins illustrated by Zachariah OHora

"The people were thirsty for sunshine."

Maurice rides his bike to his shop every day. Lotta rides her bike to collect sticks every day. Both go about their separate routines, unaware of the friendship that awaits them just a few blocks away. But what happens when a branch and a lemon peel get in the way? Bikes for Sale is a delightful falling-in-like story that celebrates the power of coincidence to lead us to the friends we’re meant to meet all along.

Maurice sells lemonade from a cart attached to his yellow bike. Lotta has a red bike with a basket that holds sticks she collects and then gives away. Both travel along similar pathways daily yet never meet…until a stick becomes entangled in one of Maurice’s spokes, propelling him into a tree. Meanwhile, Lotta’s bike skids on some lemon rinds, causing her to crash, too. They’re unharmed, but

their bikes are ruined and occupations suffer. When Maurice and Lotta read a sign advertising bikes for sale, each visits Sid’s repair shop. Hurray! Sid has fashioned a tandem bike, developed from the broken remains. He has also created a new friendship, as Maurice and Lotta become the owners/riders of a yellow-and-red lemonade-and–stick-collecting bicycle built for two. Kirkus

"Now the lemons had more shine and the sticks more snap."

Bikes for Sale is from 2019 so it is out of print but you might be lucky as I was and find a copy in your local or school library. 

This quirky anticonsumerist fable imagines a town in which uses can be found for the things most people abandon, small enterprises flourish, and communal kindness makes life rich.” —Publishers Weekly 

Here is the web page for Zachariah OHora and also for Carter Higgins. I previously talked about Goodnight Veggies. 

Here is an illustration from Bikes for Sale:

Companion book:

Herman and Rosie

Carter Higgins is the author of many books for young readers, including Everything You Need for a Treehouse, an NPR Best Book of the Year, This is Not a Valentine, a Kids' Indie Next List selection, and the chapter book series, Audrey L & Audrey W. Her first book as both author and illustrator, Circle Under Berry, was named a Best Book of 2021 by Publisher’s Weekly, Smithsonian Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. She lives in Richmond, Virginia.

I previously talked about this wonderful and important book by Carter Higgins:

Big and Small and In-between

You might also look for these books illustrated by Zachariah OHora:

Kirkus Star review

Read more here