Paperback: 128pp

Publisher: Eye (April 2011)

ISBN: 9781903070758

The Boy Who Biked the World 1

Alastair Humphreys

£7.99

Part one of the bestselling trilogy

Discover Africa by bicycle in Book One of a children’s adaptation of Alastair Humphreys’ journey around the world.

In this charming caricature of the author’s own circumnavigation by bike, we meet Tom, an adventurous boy who feels there must be more to life than school.

We follow him as he leaves England, cycling through Europe and all the way through Africa to the tip of South Africa. Along the way, young readers are introduced not only to the various fascinating landscapes he passes through, but also to the people who embrace him as he travels.

With engaging illustrations and journal entries throughout, this delightful series provides an immersive experience for any young adventurer.

Extracts

Tom forced himself to keep smiling as the chief handed him a bowl of steaming blood and milk. Circled around him, on the hard red earth, in the shade of a thorny African tree, sat ten tall Maasai warriors, dressed in red robes and dangling earrings. In their hands they held long, sharp spears. They were looking at Tom with dark, shining eyes. Tom’s blue eyes looked back at them. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. His clothes had faded in the African sun and were very dirty. The spears glinted in the hot sunshine.

Tom looked away from the men and down at the carved wooden bowl. The mixture of cow’s blood and milk was warm and, as the disgusting smell of the blood reached Tom’s nose, he had to fight his stomach not to be sick.

“Pretend it’s strawberry milkshake!” he pleaded silently to his stomach with his smile super-glued to his face. “Just pretend it’s milkshake….”

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Extracts

Tom forced himself to keep smiling as the chief handed him a bowl of steaming blood and milk. Circled around him, on the hard red earth, in the shade of a thorny African tree, sat ten tall Maasai warriors, dressed in red robes and dangling earrings. In their hands they held long, sharp spears. They were looking at Tom with dark, shining eyes. Tom’s blue eyes looked back at them. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. His clothes had faded in the African sun and were very dirty. The spears glinted in the hot sunshine.

Tom looked away from the men and down at the carved wooden bowl. The mixture of cow’s blood and milk was warm and, as the disgusting smell of the blood reached Tom’s nose, he had to fight his stomach not to be sick.

“Pretend it’s strawberry milkshake!” he pleaded silently to his stomach with his smile super-glued to his face. “Just pretend it’s milkshake….”

And with that he gulped down the whole pink bowlful in one go. The men raised their spears in the air and cheered. Tom put down the bowl and wiped his chin.

As the grinning chief patted Tom on the back, Tom sighed with relief. This short ceremony meant that Tom was now welcome in the Maasai village. He would be safe here and everyone would look after him and make him feel welcome.

“That wasn’t so bad after all!” he thought to himself. “Still, I should be used to swallowing weird food and drink by now.”

The welcome ceremony was over. “That’s a funny sort of welcome,” thought Tom. “Remind me never to be unwelcome here!” The men stood up and guided Tom back through the village. Their bare arms rippled with muscles. They walked together past huts built with branches, twigs, grass, and mud. Chickens scratched the dusty earth, searching for food. Tiny children stared in amazement at Tom, the strange new visitor to their village. The sun beat down. The men were all laughing and chattering together about Tom’s performance drinking the traditional bowl of milk and blood. Tom could not understand their language but he saw that they were happy.

They led Tom to a flat piece of ground where he could set up his tent for the night. He felt happy. He was tired after another long day’s ride. But he had made new friends in this village, and he had a good place to put his tent for the night. Plus, he was having a real adventure.

Tom thought of his friends back home, wondering what they were doing right now. What would they think if they knew that Tom had ridden his bicycle all the way to Africa? He didn’t think that they would believe him. Would you believe that someone could ride their bike all the way to Africa? But it was true, all true. Tom finished putting up his tent and unrolled his sleeping bag. Then he thought back to how all this began….

quotes

reviews

‘It’s entertaining but it also educates with its abundance of information, and is sure to inspire. A perfect choice for any parent of a would-be cycle adventurer’

Women’s Cycling

‘An enjoyable adventure story packed full of facts. Would make great discussion points for primary school kids if used as a class reader, and it is also cross-curricular, covering subjects such as geography, religion, languages and a number of other subjects’

Book Zone For Boys

extras

ABOUT

Alastair Humphreys

Alastair Humphreys is a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. He has cycled around the world, rowed the Atlantic Ocean and walked a lap of the M25 – one of his pioneering microadventures.

He is the author of 14 books, including Great Adventurers, which won the Stanford’s Children’s Travel Book of the Year and the Teach Primary Award for Non-Fiction.

He has written eight books for Eye including the bestselling The Boy Who Biked the World trilogy, a series of novels for 9–12-year-olds based on the real-life adventures he recounted in Moods of Future Joys, Thunder and Sunshine and Ten Lessons from the Road. His more recent The Girl Who Rowed the Ocean is a similarly novelised version of his transatlantic crossing. It was shortlisted for the Stanford’s Children’s Travel Book of the Year.

He is a qualified teacher.