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 everyoneneeds a bike. And nobodywants 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). I find that stories about families are always more enjoyable with multiple children.

My knowledge of bikes and bike parts is 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 know a lot about bikes, this will be fun to read.

My favorite scene in this book is when Dewey rides a tandem bicycle on the highway. Since no one could use their cars, people were biking instead. The idea of people biking on the highway is such 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 roads. It was so quiet. I almost wished it was like that all the time.

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