Bound To Stay Bound

Other - 02/24/2025 In a wordless introductory sequence to this story rooted in memory, late Caldecott and Newbery Honoree dePaola, portrayed with red-rimmed spectacles, beholds in billowing clouds the form of his terrier Bront?. Indoors, he looks down at an empty dog bed, made more poignant by the presence of balls and toys. Reminiscing text that begins "Where Are You, Bront??" first recalls the young dog’s arrival: "You flew to me on an airplane from Chicago." When Bront? whimpers in his crate, he’s invited onto dePaola’s bed... "for the next twelve and a half years." Melding her distinctive clear-line style with dePaola’s own, McClintock (Tomfoolery!) captures Bront?’s beguiling antics as a young pup, and later, as an older dog adapting to blindness ("You were able to find all three of your beds"). After the dog’s death, dePaola is shown drawing the dog’s portrait and fitting it inside a frame with a smile-"still with me, in my heart forever." Alongside images that cleverly summon beats from dePaola’s works, simple words about difficult emotions offer layers of comfort for readers wondering about the whereabouts of a late loved one. It’s a moving ode to Bront? and to dePaola-the creator who loved him. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. An illustrator’s note concludes. Ages 4-8. (May) - Copyright 2025

School Library Journal - 03/01/2025 PreS-Gr 2—In sequences of sensitive pairings, McClintock does full justice to the late dePaola's last completed manuscript—a poignant ode to his Airedale terrier Brontë—with scenes of a cotton-bearded old man and his woolly, flop-eared comrade sharing 12-plus years of affectionate companionship. With the titular question floating overhead (and answered in the end), the author recalls special moments and memories from first meeting on, pausing to marvel at how even favorite dog toys were loved but never destroyed, and how Brontë could find the water dish and all three beds even after going blind. "The day you left me, I knew I would miss you," he writes. "But then I knew you were right here, still with me, in my heart forever." In her warm afterword, the veteran illustrator articulates the challenge of evoking dePaola's gift for "speaking volumes through simplicity" into art that still reflects her own distinctive sensibility. Her success is easily measured in vivid depictions of the pooch passing from frisky pup to old dog over the years, and in the intensity of feeling that shines out of every scene, right up to final views (one drawn, one a photograph) of the smiling pair in heart-shaped frames. VERDICT For all collections, this is a fond twin memorial both to a dog and to a beloved writer and artist.—John Edward Peters - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.