The Wobbly Bike
Age 4+
Boarding & Skating, Cycling
The wonderful wobbles of learning to ride a bike, set amidst the vibrant colour and culture of Australia's "top end".
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.
A sparkling debut from Darwin author, with illustrations by award-winning Craig Smith, with a plethora of themes: humour, perseverance, learning, practice, diversity, inclusion, family generations
Creators
Darren McCallum (author) is a father of two young girls who, with wife Melissa, live in the Northern Territory. He is a tradesman with a love of nature, stand-up comedy and poetry. The seed for this story was planted by Darren’s daughter Summer, who referred to her bike as ‘the wobbly bike’ when her training wheels were removed. There are many layers to this story that are very close to Darren’s heart: the importance of inclusion in our society; the precious roles of grandparents in families; the fact that kindness and encouragement, combined with practice, are the key to success; and humour, because laughter is always the best medicine.
Craig Smith was raised in country South Australia, later training in Adelaide at the South Australian School of Art. In an illustration career over 45 years, he has illustrated many books. The 1970s and 80s were a time of upheaval in many spheres of Australian life, and exciting growth in the cultural industries. Then, and now, Craig has embraced the opportunities to illustrate stories on many themes in an identifiably Australian way. One compelling theme in front of Australians now is caring for the environment which we all live in and share. This story and illustrations were initially workshopped in Darwin, thus enabling the fabulous multicultural mix of that city to be brought forward.
Reviews
Master illustrator Craig Smith captures the fear and exhilaration of conquering one’s first ‘uncontrollable’ bicycle… A wonderful first book by Darren McCallum.
Trevor Cairney
