Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 01/01/2015 PreS-Gr 1—Opening on a yard full of items for sale, this picture book tackles the difficult discussion of transitioning to a smaller home or apartment. Callie, whose family is having the sale, watches as people slowly pick their way and prod through her family's items and memories. A particular heart-wrenching moment comes as a woman offers five dollars instead of 10 for a headboard because it is covered in crayon marks. Callie reflects, "I wish I hadn't put the crayon marks on there. They were to show how many times I had read Goodnight Moon." Several other small heartbreaks occur for Callie. Her bicycle is sold, she must explain to her best friend why she's leaving ("I don't know. It's something to do with money"), and she has to endure a well-intentioned woman asking, "Are you for sale?" While the topic is an extremely tough one, Bunting tackles it with her usual grace and poise. The clear and concise writing is a wonderful choice for the subject matter. The soft ink and watercolor illustrations with thick black lines portray the text excellently and without unnecessary additions. While the topic of moving is covered in a multitude of picture books, this one looks at it from a difficult perspective that most authors choose to avoid or gloss over. A vital purchase for collections everywhere.—Brooke Newberry, La Crosse Public Library, WI - Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 04/01/2015 A young girl is bewildered by the activity in her front yard. Most of her family’s belongings are being sold, and they will soon be moving from their house into a “small but nice” apartment in the city. Angered and upset when a man begins to take her bicycle, Callie listens as her father gently reminds her that there’s no room in their new home to store a bike and no safe place to ride it on the busy street to which they’re moving. The youngster vaguely understands that leaving her familiar surroundings has “something to do with money,” but she finds it difficult to fully comprehend and to watch strangers buying their household items. Sturdy ink-and-watercolor illustrations reveal the neat tree-lined street the family is leaving and the dismay Callie displays at the upheaval in her world. At the end of the day, the girl is comforted knowing that, even though their home will be different, her close-knit family will remain the same. The story’s focus on having to move due to reduced circumstances is a welcome addition to books about contemporary problems. - Copyright 2015 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 07/01/2015 There may be cheerful balloons flying, but that doesn’t mean Callie is happy about her family’s yard sale, which is selling off the belongings that won’t fit in their new small apartment. Callie grieves when her bedstead goes and rages when somebody buys her bike; it’s all too much when a customer jokes about Callie herself being for sale, and she tearfully begs reassurance from her father than she’s not being gotten rid of too. The story has an appropriately melancholy note as Callie watches nearly everything that had been part of her life hauled away and she has to say her goodbyes to her best friend and neighbor, Sara. It’s also clear that this is a tough move for everybody, not just Callie (“It’s something to do with money,” Callie struggles to explain to Sara). The switch to cheerful optimism at the end is less credible than the story’s previous somberness, but it makes for a reassuring evolution. The ink and watercolor art relies on thick, even linework that suggests colored pencil in its regular granularity; the softer brown of most of the outlining gentles the impact of the scenes and coordinates effectively with the olive-toned green that dominates in most spreads. The result is a quietly domestic, visually accessible style that offers a feeling of stability, which helps cushion the sadder implications of the story. It’s useful to have a story where moving may be no adventure for anybody in the family, but where things will still be okay. DS - Copyright 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

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