Bound To Stay Bound

Publishers Weekly - 05/25/2026 An odd-couple fable in the cozy-macabre vein, this droll picture book from Scott (A Cure for the Hiccups) unfolds in five short chapters of deepening dialogue. Skeleton is a classic Grim Reaper figure, black-hooded with wide eye sockets, but she’s no graveyard ghoul; she tends to her garden, reads books, and drinks tea, manufacturing a life that’s "simple and quiet. No interruptions at all." When Cat, a black feline with expressive full-moon eyes and whiskers, shows up at Skeleton’s doorstep, he tenaciously nudges his way into her solo life. Sculptural shapes and painterly gouache textures render the duo’s offbeat world, lending the proceedings a beguiling dimensionality as Skeleton carries a pink mug and green watering can around cheerfully hued pages. The duo’s friendship builds chapter by chapter, each in a different key. A sandwich-eating tutorial lands as the funniest sequence (Skeleton can’t quite figure out where the sandwich goes), and a final stargazing summit shifts the register from comic to quiet pledge of connection. "I don’t want to sleep yet," Cat says; "I don’t sleep much anyway," Skeleton replies. "I’ll stay here with you." It adds up to a friendship story with a bona fide funny bone-and soul to spare. Ages 4-8. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management. (July) - Copyright 2026 Publishers Weekly used with permission.