In my opinion, this was an interesting book. I feel like for some children it may be a bit confusing. The book takes place outside of the united states, this aspect I liked because it gives children a new perspective. The plot itself was fully developed. I could connect to the main character Margarita on a personal level. She has to make a huge decision whether to lie to her mother or protect her friends next door. The illustrations help illuminate the story as well. As a reader its encouraging to see how much wisdom the young girl has and how little influence her mother has. This book teaches the message of acceptance as well as being thankful for what you have. Margarita's mother and her friends placed stereotype on lower income families that they are criminals. Which is not true for every person in poverty. Also Margarita didn't take good enough care of her stuff but when it was stolen she decided not to tell her mother who did it. She knew in the end she was well off and could afford to get a new tricycle. ( )

In my opinion this book was very interesting and would be an important book for children to read. This book takes place outside of the United States, and offers children a different cultural perspective. It is also a good book to discuss honesty and trustworthiness, considering that is the main theme in the story. The illustrations throughout this story were unique and detailed and I enjoyed being able to look at them on each page. I enjoyed the overall plot of the story as well. I felt as though I connected with the main character, considering she was so young and had to make such a righteous decision. It was up to her to decide if she wanted to tell her mom the truth about her tricycle, and get the neighbors kids in trouble, or allow them to enjoy her bike and not get in trouble. Even though she ends up not being honest to her mom, she makes the most brave choice, especially for a young girl. I enjoyed this message and I feel as though most classrooms should read this story. The idea of trustworthiness and honesty also plays into doing the righteous thing in this story, and Margarita does the most kind thing she can, knowing her family will be able to afford another bike. This book will push children to consider other perspectives, and learn important life lessons through the lives of the characters. ( )

Tricycle is a very beautiful book that has a subtle message about money and social class. A little girl named Margarita likes to play outside and run around barefoot. At the beginning of the novel, Margarita carries herself in a way that is stereotypical of someone the tis poor. We then meet her next door neighbor who she hides in the bushes with. Margarita leaves her tricycle in the buses between their homes and realizes that her neighbors were stealing her bike. She decided not to mention it to her mother since she had already been warned to not leave her toys outside. Her mother finds out that it is missing anyway and calls the people that stole it thieves that should be shot. We then realize that Margarita is more well off then it seemed like and her neighbors are very poor. Margarita still doesn't tell her mother that the neighbor took them. It seems like she realizes that they need the tricycle more than she does. This book touches on the stereotype that poor people are criminals. It also shows that Margarita has a kind heart, more kind than that of the people her mother hangs with. Marquita doesn't look down on the lower class. The message wasn't that clear and probably wouldn't be obvious to younger kids, but would be interesting to introduce to kids in a home setting. ( )

I had mixed feelings about this story. I liked the illustrations in this book because it gave a good picture to match the text. For example, the text said on one side the hedge is my garden. Clementina, my dog, is lying in the grass. Timoteo is digging in the flower bed. Sometimes I stay beside him while he works and play with my cars. When he waters the flowers the water runs into the little ditches. I dig and make river for the cars to cross. The picture illustrates her describing what she is seeing from the branch in the tree. The text was short enough that students wouldn`t get too frustrated trying to read. But, I didn’t really like the writing because I didn’t really understand what the story was trying to tell. There are some thoughts that I have about the message of the story but it’s not very clear from the text. The main character Margarita describes how she likes to hide in the bushes and she ends up leaving her tricycle in the bushes when her mom called her in the day before. Then she describes how she sees the children from next door pulling her tricycle out from the bushes and hide it under a box. She knows they are stealing but doesn’t tell her mom. But then she hears company at the dinner table talk about how her neighbors are thieves and should be shot. I think this story has several messages, being don’t leave your stuff where other people can take them. Always put your toys away if you don’t want them stolen because people might get the wrong idea and think they can just take it. Another is that not all children are as fortunate as others. They will do what they have to, to get what they want even if it means stealing. ( )

I had mixed feelings about this book after reading it. I like the book because it is written in first person. The story is told by the main character which makes it easy for the readers to feel what she feels. The readers are able to feel the main character’s sense of worry when she says, “My tricycle is disappearing. . . My stomach feels funny. I don’t say anything.” When reading these words, it is easy to connect to her worried feelings because they are her exact thoughts. I did not like this book because of the plot. At the beginning of the story, the main character is talking about her life as she is sitting in a pine tree. As the story progresses, she gets her tricycle stolen and lies to her mother. Having this unorganized plot made it hard to comprehend what this story was about. Because the plot was unclear, I am guessing that the message of the story is to always follow the rules. The reason the main character’s tricycle got stolen is because she did not listen to her mother who always tells her not to leave her toys outside. ( )