Noodles on a Bicycle

written by Kyo Maclear
illustrated by Gracey Zhang

Review posted October 13, 2024.
Random House Studio, 2024. 36 pages.
Review written October 4, 2024, from my own copy, sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review

I was completely surprised how charmed I was by this picture book. Here's the beginning:

When the deliverymen set off in the morning
we sit outside
and watch
and wait
for the flicker of pedal and wheel.

It turns out the deliverymen are delivering orders of sobaya noodles from the Old Sobaya shop downtown.

When the orders are ready,
the deliverymen arrive
and stack the ceramic soup bowls and wooden soba boxes.
One tray on top of another.
On top of another.

Then they take off.

We watch them balancing towers on their shoulders.
An arm holding things steady
as their bicycle tires bump, bounce, settle, swoosh.

The story and illustrations are all about these elaborate tall towers, balanced while riding a bike. It turns out that the deliverymen from the New Sobaya shop compete with those from the Old Sobaya shop to see who can make "the tallest and fanciest stack." And the children themselves get in on the action, trying to pile up their own plates and bowls and ride a bike - with not so excellent results. (But all in good fun, and encouragement from the deliverymen.)

As the day wears on, the children wonder if the deliverymen get tired. Do they dream of noodles all night? And then where I am really charmed is that when the kids' mother orders noodles from the Old Sobaya shop, the deliveryman who brings them is Papa.

The book finishes up warm and cozy, eating noodles, being tucked into bed, and the parents setting out the clean dishes for Papa as deliveryman to take away with him in the morning.

It's all just so charming and lovely. What child wouldn't like to read about a papa who balances towers of dishes while riding a bike? And the Author's Note at the back tells us this is based on what she saw in her childhood summers in Tokyo and the actual deliverymen who biked on the streets there from the 1930s to the 1970s. A couple of old photographs on the endpapers confirm that the illustrator was, amazingly, not exaggerating. Just a lovely book.