Bound To Stay Bound

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Booklist - 01/01/2013 *Starred Review* In a one-room apartment on Chicago’s South Side lives the Pearl family: Dash, Summer, 11-year-old Early, and little Jubie. Do they have a lot? Well, yes, they have Dash’s love of words, their devotion to each other, and their dream: to have a home. Trying to help that dream along, Dash, a page at the Chicago Public Library, makes extra money inventorying a private collection of old books. One ice-cold day, Dash disappears, and the family must move to a shelter after an odd robbery sees their possessions stolen and their apartment destroyed. The story has some problems, especially when it comes to the mystery. The perpetrators are cartoonish, and Early’s decision to be home schooled just when she needs to be free to find clues is awfully convenient. On another front, the national attention for a homeless program Early’s devised might have fit better in a sequel. But what’s wonderful about this book, overshadowing the plot flaws, is the way Balliett so thoroughly gets inside the mind of a child accustomed to love and protection—and who now sees her life slipping away. Sadness and stoicism mingle freely in ways that will pierce all readers. Early is a clever heroine, and her smarts are enhanced by the poetry of Langston Hughes, which ripples beautifully through the story and infuses it with hope. One to ponder, this has a beat all its own. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A new book by Blue Balliett, author of Chasing Vermeer (2004), is always an awaited event, and this title will be no exception. - Copyright 2013 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 04/01/2013 Gr 6–9—The four Pearls live in a one-room apartment in South Side Chicago, rejoicing in their love for reading and celebrating words and poetic rhythms while keeping their eye on the dream of a house of their own. Dash, the father, works at the library, quotes Langston Hughes, and takes on some extra work for a dealer of old books, hoping to build up the family nest egg. When he disappears, and a violent break-in forces Early; her mother, Sum; and her younger brother, Jubilation, to escape to a homeless shelter, they are sure that their father will show up soon and they will be together again. But Dash's strange disappearance and the police's refusal to believe that there is more to the story cause Early to summon her strength and follow the clues herself. Balliett paints a vivid picture, a literary composition reminiscent of an Impressionist painting, and the landscape of life as a child within the social-services system comes into focus through the eyes of an 11-year-old. Early's interactions with the other kids at the shelter and at school help her devise a letter-writing campaign about housing for the homeless that one hopes might gain a foothold in the real world. This is an engaging mystery in which books are both the problem and the solution, and the author shows that the fight to hold fast to your dreams rewards those who persevere. Excellent.—Cheryl Ashton, Amherst Public Library, OH - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2013 The Pearl family doesn’t have much money, but fifth-grader Early Pearl is secure in the love of her parents, Dash and Sum, and in the wonderful world of language and books that Dash, a page at the Chicago Public Library, revels in. That security shatters when Dash mysteriously disappears and thugs ransack the Pearls’ tiny apartment, sending Early, her mother, and her young brother, fleeing their apartment amid a bitter Chicago winter. Their only option is a homeless shelter, a fact that sends Sum spiraling down into depression and leaves Early taking charge of the family as she tries to solve the puzzle of her father’s disappearance, the odd behavior of his co-workers at the library, and the Langston Hughes book the family treasures-and everybody else seems to want to get their hands on. The picture of shelter life here is vivid and compelling, blending appreciation for the sanctuary with a clear-eyed assessment of the flaws, while the Pearls, a close African-American family with a delight in the life of the mind, are a sympathetic crew. The plotting is fairly outlandish, however, and Balliett’s familiar love of patterning doesn’t work as well as usual, overlaid as it is on an otherwise standard middle-schooler-solves-a-crime plot. Readers will still admire Early’s pluck in the face of difficult circumstances, and they’ll be glad to see her family back together. A note about homelessness is appended. DS - Copyright 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

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