Cover of “Wild Blue,” Dashka Slater’s picture book about a young girl finding the courage to ride her new blue bike.

Wild Blue

In a charming take on a milestone moment, a young girl summons a cowpoke’s courage to tame her intimidating new bicycle.

Can she tame this intimidating set of wheels? Or is the new blue bike just too wild? Tender and relatable, Wild Blue captures the emotions of moving up in the world through an endearing character with a boundless imagination.

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  • An Amazon Best Book of The Month

  • A 2023 Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year

  • A 2024 Choices Book from the Cooperative Children's Book Center

Kayla’s story will delight and reassure readers transitioning from trikes or training wheels and inspire them to manage setbacks with patience and creativity.

Kayla loves riding her pink pony, a three-wheeled bike, up and down the street, day after day. But then Daddy announces that it’s time for a big-kid bike, one with just two wheels. At the store, Kayla selects her mount, but when she tries to ride it, she is thrown—again and again. Can she tame this intimidating set of wheels? Or is the new blue bike just too wild?

Tender and relatable, Wild Blue captures the emotions of moving up in the world through an endearing character with a boundless imagination. Despite falls, bumps, and bruises, Kayla takes her time learning the ropes, until she finally has the confidence to let go of her fear, climb back on, and ride again. Her story will delight and reassure readers transitioning from trikes or training wheels and inspire them to manage setbacks with patience and creativity.

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Praise for Wild Blue

  • "Readers ages 3-6 who are nervous about taming their own big-kid bikes will find a heroine to cheer in this heartening and humorous tale."

    —The Wall Street Journal

  • "A new tale with a classic feel that will buoy many young riders."

    —Kirkus Reviews

  • "Slater does an excellent job inhabiting that space between imagination and real life that allows two things to be true: Wild Blue can be simultaneously a horse and a bicycle. . . . Readers will appreciate Kayla’s commitment to her imaginative life, along with Slater’s twist on the familiar learning-to-ride-a-bike story.”

    —The Horn Book

  • "Through the extended metaphor of taming a wild stallion, an imaginative child describes learning to ride a new bike in this warmly encouraging story. . . aptly captures the thrilling triumph of learning to ride."

    —Publishers Weekly

  • "Viewers taking on a daunting new skill may relate to and benefit from Kayla’s imaginative methods. . ."

    —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

  • "This picture book, in which a girl trades in her training wheels for a daunting two-wheeler, is a subtle but effective demonstration of how exposure therapy can conquer fear. . . . The acrylic-ink illustrations and sunset hues brilliantly enhance the Old West metaphor, as the landscape shifts incrementally from urban to rural. . . a great example of step-by-step learning."

    —Booklist