Hero on a Bicycle

Shirley Hughes

ISBN 10: 1469274930 ISBN 13: 9781469274935

Publisher: Candlewick on Brilliance Audio, 2013

Florence, Italy, 1944: The city is under heavy Nazi occupation, but for thirteen-year-old Paolo, war is a long and boring wait. Too young to fight for the resistance, yet desperate for action and adventure, he sneaks out each night to ride his bicycle along the darkened city streets. For Paolo, the risk is thrilling. But when he is accosted by Partisans covert members of the anti-Nazi movement thrilling quickly becomes dangerous as Paolo and his family are thrust into a terrifying and impossible situation. Finally at the center of the action, Paolo must figure out once and for all whether he has what it takes to truly be a hero."

Product Description:

When their mother reluctantly joins the Italian Resistance against Nazi occupying forces in World War II Florence, young Paolo and his sister, Costanza, devise a clever way to use their bicycle to assist the movement. A first novel by the Kate Greenaway Medal-winning author of Dogger. Simultaneous.

Review:

'Shirley Hughes is one of the all time greats.' (Today)

'She will be remembered for the warmth and humour with which she has captured the fast changes in the family through the second half of the twentieth century.' (The Guardian)

'One of our greatest writers.' (David Almond)