Karen's New Bike

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #62

by Ann M. Martin

Learning all about bike safety and entering the annual bike-a-thon with a brand-new two-wheeler, Karen turns detective when her bike is stolen and has an adventure that ends in an act of charity and a new friend. Original.

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade, Fiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Ann Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.

Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.

Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.

Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.

After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...

Reviews

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typically Karen books are a little annoying because Karen is often kind of annoying herself but in this one she seemed a lot more tolerable. In Stoney brook it’s bike safety month and they all learn about bike safety (this book is also educational-I didn’t know half the stuff Karen and her friends learned about bikes ) and Karen realizes her bike is too small and not as safe, so she buys a new bike while her brothers fix her old one. The bike safety courses they take all lead up to this bike riding parade thing, but Karen’s bike is stolen and so are her friends’ bikes but they find the missing bike because of this, like, security number thing.
This book not only teaches you about staying safe on a bike but is also entertaining . If you aren’t a big fan of Karen books, you might still enjoy this one. I would recommend this (to younger readers)! 💜

[Teresa Granado-Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karen asks for a new bike. This is what I love about this story – her dad agreed that if Karen paid for part of the bike, then YES. So, her dad did NOT tell her how to earn it and did NOT give suggestions. Karen didn’t even ask him. She simply started brainstorming ON HER OWN. There was no one else being doing the frontal lobe “executive functioning” for Karen. That is the BEST way to allow kids to develop their brain. So, Karen then comes up with a business plan. No one told her DO THIS or DO THAT. I LOVE IT! Let the child use their brain and figure it out! Great.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story about the big sads that happen when someone steals your brand-new pretty bike. Especially when, as Karen did, you legit worked hard to pay for part of it.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karen almost changing her mind at the very last minute about which colour of bike she wanted is totally something I'd do. Ugh, making decisions is so hard!

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Today I was avoiding study, so I went to the library and found a small pile of new Karen books. Normally I loathe Karen, because she is, simply, a brat. However, over the four books I read, she was at her least offensive, and for the most part on her best behaviour.

I actually felt for Karen a little in this book. She genuinely needs a new bike, and behaves well and even works to earn the one Watson buys her (I was a little peeved Daddy Warbucks expected a seven year old to fork out for part of her own bike, but hey, responsibility and pride and whatnot), but then, oh no! It's stolen from her. That's sad, I mean, the poor kid's seven. No seven year old wants to lose their bike. Surprisingly, she doesn't behave like a complete brat, and the bike is found in a predictable fashion. All ends well. And Karen wins the most improved award.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll always remember Karen's New Bike as the book that made me a reader. I was sitting sulkily in my second-grade classroom during reading time because I didn't see anything I already knew I liked. My teacher walked over to me, led me to the Karen series section, and suggested I try something new. I picked up Karen's New Bike, and the rest, as they say, is history. Couldn't get enough books after that. A mere year later, I was at a 7th grade reading level!