One thing that we are still working on here at home is learning how to ride a bike without training wheels so when I saw Yikes! Bikes! from the Ready Freddy book series by Abby Klein I got excited. Just like Freddy, my daughter is struggling with it and is scared of falling and getting hurt. Just another example of how these books really do relate to our little ones and helps encourage them. Freddy is the only one in his class that doesn’t know how to ride a two wheeler and puts himself in a position that forces him to learn or face ultimate embarrassment.

A local pet shelter visits Freddy’s school and tells them all about how the animals are taken care of. This can get quite expensive so the shelter is asking the kids to volunteer for a Bike-a-thon to raise money. Each student that volunteers can collect pledges for the laps that they will ride. The only problem is Max and Freddy make a bet. Max the bully tells Freddy that he can’t do it because only two wheelers are allowed, not baby bikes with training wheels. Freddy lies and tells him that he rides a two wheeler and will ride more laps than Max. He bets his snack for a week that he’ll beat him.

Now Freddy has to get busy and learn how to ride a two wheeler and he doesn’t have much time to do it in. He also can’t let his parents know that he has made a bet with Max at school. Freddy’s dad promises to take him out to practice. He takes Freddy out to a field to ride his bike on so if he falls, it won’t hurt as bad. After two hours of trying and getting nowhere with it, Freddy’s dad calls it a day. He’s too tired to keep running after him.

What is Freddy going to do? His best friend Robbie tells him to come over after school. He knows a trick that really helped him when he was learning how to ride a two wheeler. His dad taught it to him and it did the trick. So Freddy and Robbie find a spot to practice where no one will see. Robbie tells him “just don’t look down. Look straight ahead.” Freddy isn’t happy that this is what his “trick” to riding a bike is, but will it work?