Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 05/01/2016 Gr 4–6—Four children from different parts of America go about their lives just days before the events of 9/11. Nadira is a Muslim girl struggling to balance her commitment to religious customs with her desire to fit in with the public school culture of Columbus, OH. Sergio lives in a low-income area with his grandmother in Brooklyn. Aimee is at home in California, missing her mother, who is on a business trip to New York City. Finally, there's Will in Pennsylvania, who has recently lost his father. The novel slowly follows the children through their days, failing to ever build any kind of page-turning tension. When the events of September 11, 2001, do occur, Baskin successfully depicts the reality from the perspective of the four protagonists. This is the story's greatest strength. Because of the sensitivity of the topic and the lack of a baseline understanding among most students, this book is best used as an in-class, facilitated read. Jewel Parker Rhodes's recent novel, Towers Falling, is a more engaging title that serves a similar purpose. - Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2016 On September 9, 2001, four kids-Sergio, Naheed, Will, Aimee-are separately traveling through O’Hare Airport, heading home. The book follows them, revealing that Sergio is a bright New York kid frustrated with school; Naheed is a Muslim girl in Ohio who’s getting some questions about her hijab; Will, from Shanksville, Pennsylvania is still grieving the loss of his father; Aimee is distressed by her family’s move to LA and her mother’s need to work frequently in New York. On September 11, the attacks change all their lives. The book is unabashedly programmatic, right down to the boy whose first kiss is literally overshadowed by the descent of a doomed plane; the kids are more types than well-delineated characters, and there’s not much exploration of the impact of the attacks on them beyond the fateful day. Nonetheless, this is solidly written and it’s engaging in its focus on the kids, not the politics (the attackers are hardly mentioned). It’s also an accessible choice of representatives most affected by the tragedy: the New Yorker (with a fireman buddy) at Ground Zero; the boy on the ground in Shanksville; the Midwestern Muslim girl; the girl whose mother almost ends up in the World Trade Center at the wrong moment. Absent the heavy-handed final scene, this is essentially a conventional disaster story; that in itself may be significant, marking 9/11’s passage into history that fits into formula. DS - Copyright 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Booklist - 07/01/2016 Sergio, a math whiz, is headed back to New York after a trip to Chicago. Nadira, uncomfortable at a new school where her head scarf earns her funny looks, is at the airport to greet family. Aimee’s mother is headed to New York on a business trip, while Aimee and her dad fly home to L.A. Will and what’s left of his family after his father’s sudden death are returning to Pennsylvania. Over the course of two days—September 9 and 10, 2001—this follows these four characters through the ordinary days before the event that rocked a nation. Baskin’s novel reminds readers that our lives are interconnected in ways we might never understand; by focusing on four young characters, she underscores the effects September 11 had on those involved and those bearing witness. By adult standards, this is perhaps a bit too neatly tied up, but it is a gentle introduction to a difficult topic for young readers, many of whom will be too young to remember the events firsthand. - Copyright 2016 Booklist.

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