Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 09/15/2015 Circus artists can’t perform acts of wonder or derring-do without a proper diet. That’s where the circus chef comes in, concocting the perfect recipes to keep the troupe tip-top beneath the big top. In 18 rhythmic poems, most in simple rhyming couplets, Chef describes the meals he prepares (and dietary demands) for the different circus members. There is Miss Miranda May, the fire-eater, who adds flaming chili sauce to every dish, and the high-strung tightrope walker, who insists upon a “balanced diet.” Let’s not forget the genteel clown, who apologetically throws his pies, or the snack-obsessed human cannonball, growing ever more rotund. The poems themselves are standard fare, but Hosford’s cast of characters and unique culinary approach make for an enjoyable, coherent collection. Kawa’s detailed illustrations steal the show, injecting a wild sort of energy into the proceedings. The colorful pictures, created through acrylic, watercolor, collage, and digital effects, are rich with imagination, playing into the idea that the circus is a world unto its own. - Copyright 2015 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 10/01/2015 Gr 2–4—Employing cheerful rhymes of varied pattern, the book's narrator, a chef and poet, describes the culinary tastes of the Flying Fanellis and other colorful circus entertainers. The ringmaster has no time to sit down for meals. "Inside of his hat is a picnic I made—/Salami and mustard, a mini baguette." The homesick strongman from Ukraine gets "vushka and some tea/From his babushka's recipe." Readers are also introduced to the juggler, a dog named Little Blue, the contortionist twins, and more circus stars. Like the poems, the mixed-media illustrations are comic and whimsical. Kawa's collage and drawn figures are set against nicely washed backgrounds in many hues. Often long and slender of limb and round in body, the cartoonlike performers resemble puppets or other toy figures. The clown and the human cannonball are presented as circular bodies framing heads, and the ravenous lion is a bit surreal, appearing as a jacketed human with a moustache and goatee, his pointed ears poking through a wig. Tiny details scattered across each scene add humor but are so small that they might be easily missed. There's just a bit of a story with Hugo, the sugar-addicted human cannonball, becoming a pastry chef in the end, and there's a final summer feast gathering of all the characters at a long table, circus tents behind them. VERDICT Though the busy scenes won't quite work for group use, they don't keep the verses from being fun, read-aloud choices, and librarians and educators will find this a useful resource for sparking thought about the circus, food preferences, and poetry writing.—Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston - Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.