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Francesca and the Magic Bike
Cynthia Nugent
Shortlisted: Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, BC Book Prizes
Francesca (nicknamed Frankie) is just 10, but she’s already seen a world of trouble. Her mother has died, and Frankie is sent to live with her father, a failed musician. Frankie’s kindly but bumbling father can’t live up to his promise to be a good parent, and Frankie is left mostly on her own. Her only friends in her new town are the elderly lady next door, Augusta Halberton-Ffrench, and Augusta’s dog Dan.
One day Augusta entrusts Frankie with a mission: to find a precious family heirloom lost long ago. And she gives Frankie a gift: an unusual bike named Hippogriff. Cynthia Nugent combines quirky magic with realism in a novel for middle readers about the power of creativity ... and owning your own two wheels.
“A marvellously comic, wise, and tender novel ... [Nugent’s] wry, warm sense of humour and keen-eyed affection for human nature, foibles and all.” —Quill & Quire
Cynthia Nugent is an award-winning artist as well as a teacher and writer. She has illustrated a number of picture books, including Mister Got To Go and Arnie, Goodness Gracious, Gulliver Mulligan and When Cats Go Wrong. She lives in Vancouver.
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