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I Cannot Draw a Bicycle
Award-winning author and illustrator Charise Mericle Harper creates a laugh-out-loud picture book about making something out of nothing and the power of imagination in this companion title to I Cannot Draw a Horse .
The Horse wants a bicycle.
A bicycle is hard to draw.
The Book cannot draw a bicycle.
But the Book CAN draw shapes.
Can the Horse and the Cat build a bicycle from shapes? Or will their dreams end in pieces?
Featuring the same quirky contemporary voice and kid-friendly comic illustration style as its predecessor, I Cannot Draw a Horse , this children's metafiction book is an art lesson about creativity and determination, wrapped around a humorous narrative. Readers who have enjoyed other fourth wall—breaking books like B.J. Novak's The Book With No Pictures will appreciate the interactive elements in this book for children ages 3–8.
Praise for I CANNOT DRAW A HORSE
“Creative an loaded with humor, this story will have kids giggling in seconds and trying their hand at drawing a horse—or at least a gumdrop.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Part Ed Emberley, with a dash of Pigeon, and entirely meta.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Harper’s illustrations make so much of so little, using a very limited palette and simple shapes, inviting readers into an artist’s notebook. With a little imagination and some paper, ‘nothing’ can become quite something . — Horn Book Magazine
“An easy-to-read text with exclamatory speech bubbles and pictorial antics will tickle funny bones in this off-kilter circular story.” — School Library Journal
The Horse wants a bicycle.
A bicycle is hard to draw.
The Book cannot draw a bicycle.
But the Book CAN draw shapes.
Can the Horse and the Cat build a bicycle from shapes? Or will their dreams end in pieces?
Featuring the same quirky contemporary voice and kid-friendly comic illustration style as its predecessor, I Cannot Draw a Horse , this children's metafiction book is an art lesson about creativity and determination, wrapped around a humorous narrative. Readers who have enjoyed other fourth wall—breaking books like B.J. Novak's The Book With No Pictures will appreciate the interactive elements in this book for children ages 3–8.
Praise for I CANNOT DRAW A HORSE
“Creative an loaded with humor, this story will have kids giggling in seconds and trying their hand at drawing a horse—or at least a gumdrop.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Part Ed Emberley, with a dash of Pigeon, and entirely meta.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Harper’s illustrations make so much of so little, using a very limited palette and simple shapes, inviting readers into an artist’s notebook. With a little imagination and some paper, ‘nothing’ can become quite something . — Horn Book Magazine
“An easy-to-read text with exclamatory speech bubbles and pictorial antics will tickle funny bones in this off-kilter circular story.” — School Library Journal
48 pages, Hardcover
Published August 1, 2023
38 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
May 20, 2024
Silliness ensues as a simple shape morphs into all sorts of possibilities to meet an expectation the characters can't even define themselves.
An unseen narrator begins the read with one, simple sentence on one page and a very simple shape on the next. While it might first appear to be a boring, gray bump, the entire book mountains with imaginative possibilities from there. Using the the shape, the narrator forms a cat, a horse, and a skateboard, which seems nice, but the horse wants a bicycle...sounds like a somewhat-doable task until misunderstandings and more lead into all sorts of unexpected directions. There's tons of wit, plenty imagination, and a ridiculous back and forth which promises more than a couple giggles and smiles.
Everything about this read steers toward the younger audience level. The text is simple, uses a large font, and stays concise, making it great even for beginner readers to start following along or as a read aloud in group settings. The illustrations concentrate on the two characters and whatever item is drawn at that moment. This helps readers to easily identify the shape's use in various ways and forms, and demonstrates how something so basic can be expanded into so much more. This also can lead to art/craft projects and does help exercise the imagination and creativity in a very enjoyable way.
It's a fun book with clever twists, builds creative skills, and will have listeners laughing, too. I received a complimentary copy and smiled the entire way through.
An unseen narrator begins the read with one, simple sentence on one page and a very simple shape on the next. While it might first appear to be a boring, gray bump, the entire book mountains with imaginative possibilities from there. Using the the shape, the narrator forms a cat, a horse, and a skateboard, which seems nice, but the horse wants a bicycle...sounds like a somewhat-doable task until misunderstandings and more lead into all sorts of unexpected directions. There's tons of wit, plenty imagination, and a ridiculous back and forth which promises more than a couple giggles and smiles.
Everything about this read steers toward the younger audience level. The text is simple, uses a large font, and stays concise, making it great even for beginner readers to start following along or as a read aloud in group settings. The illustrations concentrate on the two characters and whatever item is drawn at that moment. This helps readers to easily identify the shape's use in various ways and forms, and demonstrates how something so basic can be expanded into so much more. This also can lead to art/craft projects and does help exercise the imagination and creativity in a very enjoyable way.
It's a fun book with clever twists, builds creative skills, and will have listeners laughing, too. I received a complimentary copy and smiled the entire way through.
March 30, 2025
The narrator has finally learned to draw a horse, but now the horse wants a bicycle. But there's a problem: no one knows how to draw a bicycle. The horse and cat work together to find a solution, but it turns out bikes are difficult all around.
I enjoy how this book plays with shapes and colors, suggesting some useful stepping stones for kids looking to improve their art skills. I was a little thrown off by the way the dialogue is formatted, sometimes in the narrative style and sometimes as speech bubbles. It was still fun to read, though.
I enjoy how this book plays with shapes and colors, suggesting some useful stepping stones for kids looking to improve their art skills. I was a little thrown off by the way the dialogue is formatted, sometimes in the narrative style and sometimes as speech bubbles. It was still fun to read, though.
October 28, 2023
A clever picture book with an unseen narrator that announces it can draw a cat, skateboard, and horse but cannot draw a bicycle. The horse really wants a bicycle so that request leads into all sorts of amusing chaos. A fun book to share!
February 19, 2024
An unseen narrator is trying to draw a bicycle, but neither the narrator or cat or horse have ever seen one. Nonsense ensues. It was a hit with my 2 grandkids, ages 6 and 8. Lots of laughs. Great read aloud for a group as the illustrations are large and clear.
December 23, 2023
3 stars (I liked it)
This was chaotically cute but the unseeing narrator made me kind of uneasy and I felt like the book dragged on a bit. I did enjoy the cat being playful :)
This was chaotically cute but the unseeing narrator made me kind of uneasy and I felt like the book dragged on a bit. I did enjoy the cat being playful :)
March 28, 2024
This book was quite cute and very silly. I think children will like this book due to it being very interactive.
April 19, 2024
Well, boo... I actually learned how to draw a horse in "I Cannot Draw a Horse." This one left me hanging--they never really drew a bicycle.
October 10, 2024
An extremely cute picture book.
June 19, 2025
A silly little story, and that's about where it ends. It was good to read once.
October 26, 2023
Meh. Not much going on in this book.
September 22, 2025
This book was super fun since my nieces love riding a bike. The major problem: a bicycle cannot be drawn since it’s never been seen. Some shenanigans ensue trying to draw it without ever having seen it. This book made us all laugh.
March 10, 2024
This series of books (companion to I Cannot Draw a Horse) are just so silly yet clever and readers will love all of the character’s drawings and even doing their own drawings!
September 19, 2023
Holt-Delhi library Preschool story time 09-19-2023
August 8, 2023
First sentence: This is my shape. My shape can make a lot of things. I can draw a cat. I can draw a skateboard. I can draw a horse.
Premise/plot: Cat and Horse star in this silly picture book. Horse wants the book to draw a bicycle. The book can't having never seen one. Horse doesn't seem to have a clue how to draw a bicycle either. The book tries...and tries...and fails.The end.
My thoughts: I want my time back. I'm sure this book will find readers who are happy to have read it. There will probably be at least a few who will giggle at the silly antics. But for me personally, this was odd and strange in a way that didn't quite work. I'm not really sure why "the book" is an invisible entity interacting with the characters. When I first read it, I thought it was a dialogue between Cat and Horse. I didn't "get" that Book was also a character. I still don't get *why* that is. I found it unfunny the first time. But a puzzler the second time.
Premise/plot: Cat and Horse star in this silly picture book. Horse wants the book to draw a bicycle. The book can't having never seen one. Horse doesn't seem to have a clue how to draw a bicycle either. The book tries...and tries...and fails.The end.
My thoughts: I want my time back. I'm sure this book will find readers who are happy to have read it. There will probably be at least a few who will giggle at the silly antics. But for me personally, this was odd and strange in a way that didn't quite work. I'm not really sure why "the book" is an invisible entity interacting with the characters. When I first read it, I thought it was a dialogue between Cat and Horse. I didn't "get" that Book was also a character. I still don't get *why* that is. I found it unfunny the first time. But a puzzler the second time.
September 15, 2023
A very cute book about figuring it out on your own, even if you have no clue what you are doing!
May 24, 2023
I thought this book was even cuter than the first one. Cat and Horse have now teamed up, and horse wants the Book to draw him a bicycle, except none of them (including the Book) have ever seen a bicycle! Silliness ensues as they try to create a bicycle out of random shapes. Kids will get a kick out of the strange "bicycles" and will love having a special knowledge the characters don't have (they'll have fun spotting the characters' mistakes!). And they'll enjoy the fun twist at the end of the book as well!
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher so I could provide an honest review. No compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher so I could provide an honest review. No compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
September 11, 2023
Cute. Funny. Not what I was looking for. It's not enough about drawing or try to draw. I'm not really sure I know what it's about.
September 12, 2023
Funny but the bicycle joke goes on for too long. Still it's cute and kids will enjoy it.
Themes: art, bicycles, humor
Ages: K-1st grade
Pub year: 2023
Themes: art, bicycles, humor
Ages: K-1st grade
Pub year: 2023
September 12, 2023
Simple text in this tale of a horse wanting a bicycle, and the book being unable to draw a bicycle for the horse. Silly fun!
February 4, 2023
I received an electronic ARC from Union Square Kids through Edelweiss+.
I appreciate how Harper takes a simple shape and shows readers how to draw so many items from it. She weaves the shape into the entire story for readers to find on each page. The word play is humorous and lets readers think it through before reading more. The final result may not be a bicycle but it will lead to many adventures for this cat and horse. Excellent choice for reading with art classes.
I appreciate how Harper takes a simple shape and shows readers how to draw so many items from it. She weaves the shape into the entire story for readers to find on each page. The word play is humorous and lets readers think it through before reading more. The final result may not be a bicycle but it will lead to many adventures for this cat and horse. Excellent choice for reading with art classes.
May 31, 2023
I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher for my honest opinion.
Cat and Horse want to see a bicycle but the artist has never seen one… and neither has horse or cat. How will they draw what they have never seen? This is a fun book all about working with what you got and celebrating what you can do. In the end, there is a bicycle. See if you can spot it! A great book for budding, frustrating artists or kids who need to the bright side of learning new things.
Cat and Horse want to see a bicycle but the artist has never seen one… and neither has horse or cat. How will they draw what they have never seen? This is a fun book all about working with what you got and celebrating what you can do. In the end, there is a bicycle. See if you can spot it! A great book for budding, frustrating artists or kids who need to the bright side of learning new things.
August 27, 2023
Kind of weird. The horse wants the illustrator to draw a bicycle, but the illustrator says its too hard. Then, come to find out, neither the horse, cat, or illustrator have ever seen a bicycle? I just didn't think it was as "laugh out loud funny" as promised.
No content considerations.
No content considerations.
August 28, 2023
Horse and Cat return for a new adventure. I liked it though not quite as much as the first book. I'm wondering if this one is better for one-on-one sharing? I might try it in a small storytime and see how it does.
March 27, 2023
3.5 stars for this book about cat and horse wanting to draw a bicycle, not that they have even seen one.
I read a digital advanced reader's copy courtesy of the publisher
I read a digital advanced reader's copy courtesy of the publisher
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August 3, 2023Funny story. I was hoping they'd look at the bicycle upside down and say hey, now it is a bicycle! But the car with the giant half oval probably made more sense.
August 21, 2023
This story is completely illogical, boring, and ineffective.
August 24, 2023
Similar vibes to piggy and Gerald by Mo Willems, but also interactive with the narrator.
Great for introducing art with shapes, stamina, and creativity.
Great for introducing art with shapes, stamina, and creativity.
August 12, 2025
Get your reader into a play on words and shapes!
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews