Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 09/01/2013 Gr 5–7—New Jerseyite Cecelia Maloney is a girl with a plan. She wants to be a radio star and work in New York City just like her father, a sound-effects technician, even though her mother disapproves of her being in show business. The epitome of moxie, Cece won't let anything stop her from realizing her dream to be famous by her next birthday, even if that involves "sinning." She skips church, lies to everyone but her best friends, and steals transportation money from her family's rainy-day jar. Her good-natured pluck lands her a part-time job as a copygirl at CBS and an encounter with her idol, Orson Welles. Excitement over her budding career prevents her from picking up signals of trouble between her parents. Life at home and work collide in a twofold climax: Cece learns of her father's affair with a radio starlet, and when Welles's "War of the Worlds" broadcast panics the city, Cece must confess how she knows it is a hoax. Debut novelist Brendler has created a funny, appealing protagonist with expressions full of the hyperbole one would expect from a 14-year-old with a penchant for melodrama: "his voice would broadcast itself into my heart." This engaging, detailed novel vividly depicts Depression-era lifestyles and the world of old-time radio. The best feature is a fresh take on the 1938 broadcast for readers familiar with the event and an intriguing introduction for those who are new to it.—Marybeth Kozikowski, Sachem Public Library, Holbrook, NY - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 10/15/2013 Cece Maloney is only 14, but she knows what she wants out of life: a career in radio. Her pop, a well-respected radio sound-effects man has promised to get her an interview at Mutual Broadcasting, but when he reneges, Cece talks her way into a job typing newsroom copy and scripts at rival CBS. Cece is a fan of radio soaps, but they have nothing on her own life. Her teenage aunt appears to be having an affair with a parish priest, her best friend has a medium for a mother, and there’s something odd going on between her parents. Will the truth crush her dreams? Brendler does two things here very well: she tells an enjoyable story, and the 1938 setting really evokes an era. A couple of twists are predictable—at least to veteran readers—and there’s the occasional, small incorrect fact (“Swinging on a Star” wasn’t recorded until 1944). But this is so full of charm and humor, it’s good that a sequel seems on the way. - Copyright 2013 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 12/01/2013 Cece Maloney’s father, a sound effects man for the radio, always told her he’d get her a job at the station as soon as she’s old enough, but now that she’s fourteen and has a work permit, Pop has backed off his promise. Mom’s no help; in fact, she’s positively overprotective when it comes to most of Cece’s activities. Cece is nothing if not determined, however, and she fast talks her way into a Saturday job fulfilling promotional giveaways in the CBS mailroom, works her way into a script and news typing position, and even snags a couple of one-off gigs recording background whistles and screams. Utterly starstruck, she dreams of a romance with Orson Welles and hopes for an audition for a soap opera. Her own life offers plenty of of melodrama, though, between Pop’s affair with a radio actress, Mom’s true motivations for keeping her daughter on a short leash, the real story behind Aunt Nory’s apparent fling with an attractive parish priest, and the possibility of a romance of her own with Frank, an aspiring reporter at CBS. Cece’s amorous imaginings are at once comical and realistically cringeworthy (“Our scripts would brush against each other with the crinkly sound of budding romance, and his eyes would peer into the depths of my soul, and his voice would broadcast itself into my heart”), and the web of fibs and deceits with which she covers her secret employment are all the more entertaining for their inevitable doom. Readers in the know will put Orson Welles and the 1938 time setting together to anticipate the infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast, but no prior knowledge is needed to enjoy simply sprinting along with headstrong Cece and her boundless ambition. EB - Copyright 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.