Crunch by Leslie Connor

4^th Grade and Up

Dewey Marriss never guessed that the gas pumps would run dry the same week he promised to manage the family’s bicycle-repair business. Suddenly everyone needs a bike. And nobody wants to wait.

With the crunch stranding Dewey’s parents far up north with no way home, it’s up to Dewey and his older sister, Lil, to look after their younger siblings and run the bike shop all on their own.

Each day Dewey and his siblings feel their parents’ absence more and more. The Marriss Bike Barn is busier than ever. And just when he is starting to feel crunched himself, Dewey discovers that bike parts are missing from the shop. He’s sure he knows who’s responsible – or does he?

The Marriss kids consist of five siblings: Lily (18), Dewey (14), Vince (13), and the twins Angus and Eva (5). Stories about families are always more interesting with multiple children.

My knowledge of bikes and bike parts are pretty limited so I don’t really understand what parts of the bike are being repaired or what bike parts are being stolen. So if you’re interested in bikes, this will be fun to read.

My favorite scene in this entire book is Dewey riding a tandem bicycle on the highway. Since no one can use their cars, people were biking instead. The idea of people biking on the highway is just a great image to me. Dewey even picks up a ‘hitch-biker’ during this scene.

My neighborhood had a Beach Streets event where the city blocked a bunch of roads and everyone biked in the empty streets. It was so cool to not have any cars on the streets. It was so quiet. I almost wished it was like that all the time.

This is a great book for families to listen to on audio during a family road trip.