Bound To Stay Bound

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 House that wasn't there
 Author: Arnold, Elana K.

 Publisher:  Walden Pond Press (2021)

 Classification: Fiction
 Physical Description: 278 p.,  21 cm

 BTSB No: 070314 ISBN: 9780062937063
 Ages: 8-12 Grades: 3-7

 Subjects:
 Friendship -- Fiction
 Mystery fiction
 Magic -- Fiction

Price: $21.88

Summary:
Alder has some resentment toward Oak because her family cut down his favorite walnut tree on their property after they recently moved in next door. As Oak and Alder start school together, they can't imagine ever becoming friends. But the two of them soon discover a series of connections between them--mysterious, possibly even magical puzzles they can't put together. At least not without each other's help.

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Accelerated Reader Information:
   Interest Level: MG
   Reading Level: 5.70
   Points: 9.0   Quiz: 511574

Reviews:
   Kirkus Reviews (+) (01/01/21)
   School Library Journal (03/01/21)
   Booklist (02/15/21)
 The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/02/21)
 The Hornbook (00/05/21)

Full Text Reviews:

Booklist - 02/15/2021 Alder and his widowed mother live in a home shaded by a large walnut tree. When someone buys the house next door and has the tree removed, they feel resentful about its loss. Soon Oak and her mother move into the house, and the girl becomes Alder’s sixth-grade classmate. Their initially prickly relationship becomes less awkward after each separately adopts a kitten from the same litter, and they enjoy watching them play together. Alder has had only one real friend, who seems to be drifting away, but Oak makes him feel comfortable, while sometimes challenging his thinking. Together they share experiences involving feline-related teleportation to other dimensions and a formerly taxidermied but now-living opossum named Mort. Coincidences abound, including Oak and Alder’s tree names, their choice of sibling kittens, and a foreshadowed revelation concerning their mysterious sense of kinship. Still, Arnold depicts the kids’ emotions, relationships, and thought processes with unusual clarity and nuance. Middle-grade readers, particularly those with a taste for light fantasy, will find plenty to enjoy in this quirky, original novel.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The popularity of A Boy Called Bat (2017) and Arnold's many accolades will drum up a crowd for this. - Copyright 2021 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 03/01/2021 Gr 3–7—Adler and his new neighbor, Oak, are pretty certain they are not going to be friends. Sure, they live next door to each other, are both named after trees, and are in the same sixth grade class, but Adler isn't sure he can forgive Oak after her family cuts down the big walnut tree that sat between their houses. Neither is he sure he can forgive how easily she makes friends at a new school in a new city, when his own best friend since kindergarten is acting distant and weird. But the universe seems determined to throw Adler and Oak together—well, the universe, a portal to another dimension, a couple of kittens, a school project, and a taxidermy opossum named Mort. Arnold takes on themes of friendship, family, loss, and growth in this novel. Adler and Oak, both white, are well-rounded characters with flaws, interests, and a realistic range of emotions. Oak, for example, hates that she was not consulted about her family's move but also understands what a great opportunity it presented her mom. She misses San Francisco and her friends but starts to make new friends and feel more at home in L.A. Adler slowly begins to let his interests be known to someone other than his closest friend and finds new friends along the way. There are a lot of coincidences that may not hold up if looked at too closely, but readers won't want to pick them apart. VERDICT Arnold creates a world that is both completely normal and wonderfully magical, and readers will want to be a part of it. Recommended.—Heather Webb, Worthington Libs., OH - Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

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