PBParty Entry #27 : Bicycles Vs. Horses: The Absurd, Outrageous, Impossible Ride of James Moss and Mingo Sanders

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GENRE: Non-Fiction, Biography

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WORDS: 527

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Query:

Dear Agents, Editors, Judges, Lurkers–

Thanks for attending this PB bash. I have a non-fiction story that sounds more like fiction.

In BICYCLES VS HORSES, a young, white West Point graduate is sent to remote Fort Missoula, Montana where he decides to team with a grizzled Black sergeant to prove to the Army that bicycles should replace horses! The plan: lead 20 Buffalo Soldiers 2,000 brutal biking miles in 40 days. But the odds, the elements and most of the Army brass are against them.

This is a 527-word picture book (plus loads of back matter) that should excite
any 5 to 8-year old who’s discovering the joy and freedom of a bicycle. It also subtly shows how two people from very divergent backgrounds can work together to surmount huge obstacles.

I stumbled upon this saga while visiting the Fort Missoula museum. Being a TV commercial writer, I developed it into a screenplay. Now, as a gold member of 12×12 and SCBWI, I have distilled it into a picture book. My first PB, A HORN IS BORN, earned 5-star journal reviews and will be featured by the Oregon Symphony this March! And SCBWI has selected my story, A LEGEND RESURFACES, for their first anthology book, THE HAUNTED STATES OF AMERICA, coming this fall!

I have additional polished picture book manuscripts I’d love to share.

Thank you again for attending the PBParty. I hope to hear from you again…

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Excerpt:

At first, bicycles were difficult and dangerous.
But in 1885 the Rover was invented. Its chain drive meant both wheels could be the same size.
Simple and safe.
Suddenly, everyone could feel the breeze against their face, without a horse between their legs.
America caught bicycle fever.
Even in remote Fort Missoula, Montana.
There, James Moss arrived, fresh out of West Point, with the bicycle bug.
And a wild idea.

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What inspired you to write this story & what do you have in common with it:

I happened upon this amazing story while visiting the little Fort Missoula museum.
There stood a replica of the 1897 bicycle and a display about James Moss and Mingo Sanders and the Buffalo Soldiers’ incredible 2,000 mile cycle trek.

That got my wheels to turning! Imagine: a white southerner graduates last in his West Point class so he’s exiled to Ft. Missoula where he winds up teaming with a grizzled Black sergeant to try to convince the US Cavalry they should swap horses for bicycles! This has got to be a picture book—if not a screenplay!