Bound To Stay Bound

Other - 11/04/2024 Mondays don’t get a lot of love-unless you’re the eponymous protagonist of this picture book, in which case, "Monday is the best day of the week." To the amusement of her parents, Mabel wakes up early, dresses, grabs a bowl of dry cereal, and drags a chair to the driveway to await the garbage truck’s arrival. "And it’s huge!" writes Awan (I’m Going to Build a Snowman). "The engine roars! The lights flash! The hubcaps shine! The brakes squeak!" The vehicle lifts a garbage can into the air, and Mabel hoists her cereal bowl to the sky in solidarity. Mabel is convinced that everyone she knows has missed it, this "best thing in the world," but the following pages reveal that the child belongs to a bigger community: as the truck makes its rounds, it draws beaming faces to various windows, suggesting that trash-pickup Monday is the "best day" for a lot of people. Digital art, a blend of watercolor and cut-paper looks, employs soft shapes and strong geometric lines. Throughout, Mabel exudes the unshakable enthusiasm of a die-hard fan, and the truck, bright green with stylized details, proves a worthy object of communal adoration. Characters are portrayed with various abilities and skin tones. Ages 4-8. Agent: Erica Rand Silverman, Stimola Literary Studio. (Feb.) - Copyright 2024

School Library Journal - 12/30/2024 PreS-Gr 2—"Monday is the best day of the week (according to Mabel, at least)." With tan skin, light brown hair in double ponytails, and purpose coursing through her, Mabel gets started on her day, pouring herself a bowl of cereal and heading somewhere to do the "cutest" thing, according to her mother. Mabel takes up her station to wait for the garbage truck. Vehicle buffs will love the next few spreads as the truck's many moving parts make the most splendid crashes and booms (the typography supports this sequence fully). Her entire family is in on Mabel's desire and need to get to her post on time; readers glimpse her sister Mira doing "boring" things like listening to music and reading a book and in a charming ending, discover that Mabel is not alone in her fascinations. Awan continues his streak of showing the purposefulness of humans in general and children in particular, through Towed By Toad, I'm Going To Build A Snowman, and other titles. How such simple, expressive illustrations convey the excitement that makes the arrival of a truck more like a Broadway show is a question best left to the artist. VERDICT Children will be empowered to declare their own special events each week, while educators and parents will see that even small moments are worthy of celebration.—Kimberly Olson Fakih - Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 02/01/2025 *Starred Review* This joyous little book celebrates how garbage trucks move, how they sound, and how they work, all from the perspective of a little girl who thinks they’re the best thing ever. Little Mabel’s story carries a lot of suspense: we don’t know why she is so excited about Mondays until the truck makes its noisy appearance midbook. Mabel has blocky-looking legs, black circles for eyes, a black slash for a mouth, and pigtails that stand straight up like furry antlers, yet she manages to look adorable and expressive. We see her prepping for what’s going to happen this particular Monday by taking a bowl of cereal and a chair out to the family home’s driveway. And then comes a roar and a honking, and “the best thing in the world” appears—a garbage truck. The digital illustrations and lettering capture the enormity of garbage trucks with their clanging sounds, flashing lights, and shining hubcaps, contrasting huge lettering for the garbage truck’s appearance and actions and tiny lettering for Mabel’s awed reactions. Mabel isn’t alone in her appreciation; the final pages expand out to other kids looking out of windows, thinking that Monday is the best day ever. - Copyright 2025 Booklist.