Get on Your Bike

When we’re a little bit angry with someone, we might tell them to go away and say, ‘On your bike!’ But what happens when you take that expression literally?
When Bobby the panda and William the dog have an argument, William says to Bobby, ‘Go on! On your bike!’ So Bobby gets onto his bike and goes for a long, breath-taking ride through the town and countryside.
At every stoplight, he heads whichever way is green at that moment and so he ends up farther and farther away from home. Gradually, though, he forgets about the argument and, as he becomes hungry, he starts to wonder how William is doing. Akveld creates a small and wonderfully familiar tale out of something as ordinary as a quarrel, while Hopman’s illustrations are among his best work, as he turns the bike ride into something large and expansive, cheerfully incorporating references to the work of his favourite artists: David Hockney, Rembrandt, Ed van der Elsken and many others.