Lillie's world is looking rather grim these days. Her father is struggling to cope with the death of Lillie's mother. He gives her very little of his time and goes around looking like a thundercloud. Lillie misses her mother so much that it hurts. She also has to deal with a daunting spelling bee and a teacher whom she doesn't care for all that much. In fact, as she puts it, "Sometimes Miss Twombley had such a tight voice, it made me wonder if her shoes were squeezing her feet." Pile on to this the fact that Lillie and her best friend Minerva have a fight, and you have a classic recipe for unhappiness.

But then someone very peculiar moves into the neighborhood, a Miss Frances Willard. Before she knows how or why, Lillie becomes friends with this fascinating and incorrigible woman. Miss Frances is determined to learn how to ride a bicycle, a symbol of freedom for women. Meanwhile, Lillie wants to do well in the spelling bee. So the two stubborn friends support one another in their struggles and in other ways as well.

BICYCLE MADNESS is a funny, poignant and thought-provoking story. Beautifully written in Lillie's own 'voice,' we celebrate her victories and suffer her losses along with her. Jane Kurtz has found a wonderful way of conveying to readers how difficult it was to be a forward-thinking woman in the late 1800s. In her lifetime, Miss Frances was considered to be a revolutionary for her behavior and ideas.

Charming black-and-white illustrations that capture Lillie and her world can be found throughout the book. Readers will find a very interesting author's note in the back that describes Kurtz's journey in writing the book, in addition to historical information about Frances Willard and her work.

   --- Reviewed by Marya Jansen-Gruber (mjansengruber@mindspring.com)