Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 06/01/2025 PreS-Gr 3—A swarm of zombie bees leaves the cemetery to invade a town on Halloween night, frightening a trick-or-treating girl, her cat, and her town. With the help of a librarian, beekeepers are called in to save the day. Do the zombees actually come in peace, or is this a plan to eat more brains? Jolly details make this picture book shine. Rhyming and alliteration create a sense of playfulness while setting the pace. Illustrations alternate between vignettes, panels, and full-page spreads splashed with teal, gray, purple, and lime green to evoke the feeling of fall. Features of each image are slightly skewed—crooked headstones, slanted architecture—to further suggest the eerie excitement of Halloween night. Children will delight in the tattered, otherworldly zombees and enjoy searching for the silly cat in the background. A surprise ending provides the perfect finishing touch. VERDICT A collection must, this charming read-aloud will be requested on repeat.—Maggie Mason Smith - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Other - 06/09/2025 The much-feared titular ghouls of this picture book are green, decaying flying insects that rise from the graveyard. "Moaning, groaning, they invade./ Behold! the Undead Bee Parade," the swarm sends shivers down the spine of a trick-or-treating human. But when "troops arrive in veils and boots," the Zombees swear they’re just misunderstood. Bored on Halloween, they’ve abandoned their cemetery sanctuary to personally deliver "ooky spooky honey" that materializes just once a year. In rhyming lines, Col?n unveils the pollinators’ own disguise, revealing that even on the calendar’s creepiest night, they’re still-in every sense-as busy as bees. Quarles captures a town made giddy by the Halloween spirit, and buzzy characters that clearly convey the smarts and savvy of the hive mind. Human characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4-8. (July) - Copyright 2025