Pedal Pusher - Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF

Can you imagine a time before bicycles? Or a time when women couldn't wear pants, let alone jeans and shorts? As the fight for women's rights was gaining ground, a young mother proved that with a bit of gumption and dose of determination a woman could quickly learn to ride a bike, take a dare, and ride around the globe in fifteen months. This beautiful picture book biography celebrates the amazing accomplishment of this adventurous, daring woman.

Book cover - woman in bloomers on a bike waving a hat with newspaper articles and photos splayed behind her.

Pedal Pusher: How One Woman's Bicycle Adventure Helped Change the World.

Author: Mary Boone

Illustrator: Lisa Anchin

Publisher: Henry Holt & Company (2025)

Ages: 4-8

Themes:

Biography, bicycle adventure, feminism, and determination.

Synopsis:

In 1894, when two men bet that a woman could never bicycle around the world, as a man had done, Annie set out to prove them wrong, despite not knowing how to ride a bike.

Dressed in a long skirt, she began her journey in Boston. It wasn’t easy, but Annie never gave up. Her adventure brought her attention in every place she visited along the way, and she loved it all. She told many stories--about hunting tigers, dodging bullets, socializing with royalty, and serving time in a Japanese prison--and some of them were probably not true. But she did ride all the way around the world. And she changed the way that the world thought about what women were capable of doing.

Filled with captivating illustrations of the incredible globe-spanning journey, this celebratory picture book tells the story of an unsung feminist icon, the marvelous and resilient Annie Cohen Kopchovsky.

Opening Lines:

Pedal, pedal, pedal.

Annie Cohen Kopchovsky was ready to ride her bicycle.

Not to the market.

Not around the block.

Not across town.

Annie was going to ride her bike all the

way around the world.

What I LOVED about this book:

I love how the dedication page - showing spot illustrations of hands adjusting a bow tie, lacing women's shoes, and donning gloves - finishes with a full page spread, viewed from behind, of a woman securing her hat. All of which lead, through the title page with the woman walking alongside her bicycle, to this fun opening spread accompanied by an imaginative and colorful illustration of Annie Kopchovsky riding on top of the world. And a really intriguing opening text.

Internal image of a globe featuring the americas and Annie riding across the top, as a silver swoosh travels and swirls off the left page.

Text © Mary Boone, 2025. Image © Lisa Anchin, 2025.

When Annie overheard two men betting that a woman couldn't cycle around the globe, she took the bet. However, the odds were stacked against her from the start - she was Jewish, a wife and mother of three. and had never, ever ridden a bike. But after just two lessons, "she was ready to go."

Internal image - On the left, Annie and family during a Jewish ceremony and tucking the kids into bed. On the right, Annie taking lessons, falling, and eventually riding a bike.

Lisa Anchin's illustrations gorgeously capture the period clothing and buildings and offer a fun glimpse at some 1890's newspapers. As part of the bet, Annie had to start her journey with no money and earn $5,000 during the trip. Properly dressed and coiffed, Annie started her journey, carrying "nothing but a fresh pair of underwear and a pearl-handled revolver." Before she leaves Boston, Annie earns $100 by attaching a "Londonderry" banner to her bike wheel and changing her name for the duration of the trip. Annie arrived in Chicago after "three long months" of "wearing clunky, heavy clothes while riding a clunky, heavy bike." Refusing to surrender, Annie received a donation of a lighter bike and bought bloomers! Reversing her path, Annie rode back to New York and caught a steamship bound for Europe.

Internal image - four spot illustrations of four landmarks with Annie riding past them in France, Egypt, India, and Japan, as ships and trains tavel a dotted path between the images.

I love Lisa Anchin's sepia, softly colored illustrations feature some of the countries Annie pedaled through, by showing her passing some well known landmarks. While the succinct text highlights how she used ships and trains to help her pedal wherever she could in her goal of circumnavigating the globe. She drew crowds along her journey and often other cyclists rode with her for stretches at a time. Finally, Annie arrived back in Boston, fifteen months later.

Briefly mentioning that Annie gave lectures and sold signed photographs to earn the required money, Mary Boone notes that many question the veracity of her stories and perhaps even the bet itself. Despite that, the New York World declared her accomplishment - "the most extraordinary journey ever undertaken by a woman." It was a journey that had a profound impact on society. The back matter expands on the effect which bicycles had on the fashion and freedom of women in the late 1800's and the amazing effect they still have on the world today. This is an entertaining and beautiful picture book biography sharing the impact Annie Cohen Kopchovsky made on the world's view of women and their abilities.

Resources:

make a paper, origami, cardboard, or recycled bike.

draw a chalk map on you driveway (or other safe area) and ride your own bike on a special trip. Where did you imagine travelling?
find a map of a nearby bike-friendly park, with an adult map out a route and take a journey around the park. How long did it take you to finish your journey?
pair this book with Pedal, Balance, Steer: Annie Londonderry, the First Woman to Cycle Around the World by Vivian Kirkfield, illustrated by Alison Jay. How did the authors and illustrators tell the story differently, while still celebrating Annie's amazing accomplishment?

If you missed my interview with Mary Boone on Monday, find it (here).

This post is part of a series of blog posts by authors and KidLit bloggers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays. For more picture book suggestions and resources see Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Books.