Boy in Motion

The true story of a boy's courage and triumph, by an award-winning children's author and a renowned children's illustrator.

As a young boy, Rick Hansen loved fishing from the moment he dangled a willow fishing rod over the water and felt that first tug on the line. Then, on his way back from a fishing trip, his life was changed forever when the truck he was riding in flipped as it rounded a sharp curve.

In Boy in Motion we meet the boy who loved to fish and play ball, and the young man who learned that as a paraplegic he did not have to leave behind fishing or ballgames or any of his other dreams. Instead, his dreams grew and grew, and he went on to change the lives of many people. This is Rick Hansen's story, a story of courage and triumph sure to touch and inspire young readers everywhere.

Ainslie Manson is the author of twelve books for children, including Ballerinas Don't Wear Glasses, Just Like New, and Boy in Motion, which was about Hansen's youth and his coming to grips with his disability. Ainslie lives on Bowen Island, near Vancouver, British Columbia.

Renne Benoit is an award-winning artist who has illustrated many books for children, including Fraser Bear, Boy in Motion, Jason's Journey, and Goodbye to Griffith Street, which won the Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize. She lives in southern Ontario with her husband and her two dogs.

"Boy in Motion will appeal to a juvenile audience up to age 16. The accompanying watercolor paintings by Renne Benoit which effectively illustrate Rick's story are truly masterful and poignant. Boy in Motion would be ideal for classes or topics on celebrating diversity, as well as adaptive learning and adaptive physical education." -Midwest Book Review

"BC author Ainslie Manson tells the remarkable story of a man who never gave up on himself . . . Beautiful illustrations by Renne Benoit add to this touching tale of courage and inspiration." -Kitchener-Waterloo

"Hansen's life story, told briskly and unsappily here by Ainslie Manson with folksy paintings by Renne Benoit. Manson draws out Hansen's indefinable spirit and enormous drive as she presents the story of how the boy in motion grew up to be a hero." -Georgia Straight

"Luminous watercolours amplify this very fine biographical picture book in which the hero . . . is Canadian Rick Hansen, the 'man in motion' whose self-propelled wheelchair travels took him 40,075 kilometres around the globe . . . With an elegant economy of words, Ainslie Manson recounts Hansen's life as a boy who could never sit still, a boy who loved all sports and was mad about fishing." -Globe & Mail

"Well illustrated and offers a compelling and inspirational account of Hansen's fight to be as active as possible, mentioning his Man in Motion World Tour and his struggle to improve the quality of life for those with spinal-cord injuries . . . Definitely one to add to most collections because of its quality presentation of an important subject." -School Library Journal