Bound To Stay Bound

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Booklist - 02/01/2011 *Starred Review* Ideal for families with working parents—and that’s pretty much everyone now, right?—Levine’s cozy ode to counting down to the weekend should provide some solace to the lonely: “The hardest part of going to work is being apart from you. / Let’s count the days till we’re both at home with a special thing to do.” Levine smartly doesn’t put all of his eggs in the weekend basket, pausing to focus upon special moments of togetherness wherever they happen to fall: at breakfast, while getting on the bus, when the parents return at night, and during family time on the sofa. The diversity extends to geography; the town, seen in full on the title page, includes metropolitan, suburban, and rural areas, and families from each region share the spotlight. Hector’s grinning cartoon-style illustrations are delightful, based in reality but accented with unexpected color, such as the carnival stripes of a farmer’s distant field. But the book’s greatest accomplishment might be its crosssection of middle America: white, black, old, young, white-collar, blue-collar, straight, and gay (and—scandal!—the gay couple is pictured hanging out in the bedroom). It’s that rare book perceptive enough to recognize that the random moments are those we treasure most. - Copyright 2011 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 04/01/2011 PreS-Gr 2—While it is difficult for parents who work outside the home to part from their children, Levine assures youngsters that a work week does eventually end, and that each day affords an opportunity for some special time together. Monday allows for "one safe snuggly cuddle," Tuesday for "two stomps in a puddle," and so on until the weekend arrives with time for more extended activities. Readers will enjoy the brief, rhyming text, printed in different colors that match the artist's palette, and the invitation to "count the days" (and objects pictured). But there is much more for them to glean from the mixed-media cartoon illustrations, mostly spreads, offering aerial and close-up views of the town and its inhabitants. The cover alludes to the cyclical nature of time as it portrays the different family constellations that appear within the book. Youngsters are subtly introduced to diverse ethnic representation, grandparents as primary caregivers, a child who has two fathers, and single parents, with a reprise of all the families in a park scene at the end. From breaking dawn to sunrise to the rising of the moon in the evening, whether they work in an office, on a farm, or engage in other kinds of labor, these adults share their love for their children and eagerness to spend time with them. This is a fine vehicle for discussion of different family groupings, kinds of work, and separation anxiety.—Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

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