Pedal Pusher: How One Woman’s Bicycle Adventure Helped Change the World

Annie Cohen Kopchovsky was ready to ride her bicycle.

Not to the market.
Not around the block.
Not across town.
Annie was going to ride her bike all the
way around the world.

In 1894, when two men bet that a woman could never bicycle around the world, as a man had done, Annie set out to prove them wrong, despite not knowing how to ride a bike.

Dressed in a long skirt, she began her journey in Boston. It wasn’t easy, but Annie never gave up. Her adventure brought her attention in every place she visited along the way, and she loved it all. She told many stories--about hunting tigers, dodging bullets, socializing with royalty, and serving time in a Japanese prison--and some of them were probably not true. But she did ride all the way around the world. And she changed the way that the world thought about what women were capable of doing.

Filled with captivating illustrations of the incredible globe-spanning journey, this celebratory picture book tells the story of an unsung feminist icon, the marvelous and resilient Annie Cohen Kopchovsky.

Mary Boone has ridden an elephant, skydived, and eaten dozens of cricket cookies - all in the interest of research for her books and articles. She has written 60-plus nonfiction books for young readers. Mary lives in Tacoma, Washington, where she shares an office with an Airedale Terrier named Ruthie Bader.

Lisa Anchin has been drawing since she could hold a pencil and making up stories since she could speak. She is often holed up in her studio stringing words together and compulsively doodling, but she also loves meeting other kidlit folks and volunteers as the Illustration Coordinator for SCBWI’s Metro NY Chapter.
She is the author/illustrator of THE LITTLE GREEN GIRL and THE PAPER BIRD. Lisa lives in Brooklyn with her husband, two daughters, and two studio cats.