Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 08/01/2025 K-Gr 3—The main character loves visiting Ah Yi every week for dinner with their parents and Ye Ye and Po Po. Ah Yi also loves the visits and shows it by sewing all kinds of things, especially pajama pants. They're perfect: always cozy and they fit just right. Only this time they're pink—ugh. Ah Yi gets it and says she'll make a different pair, but next time the protagonist goes to visit, Ah Yi is in the hospital. Written in the first-person, the book doesn't use pronouns for the unnamed protagonist, although they are shown reluctantly wearing a dress in one scene. The art style throughout the book is gently cartoonish, complemented by a few different fonts and text colors. The characters have simple but expressive faces and postures, which could be useful for starting conversations with younger readers about the subject matter and helping them describe their own feelings. The text has a quick pace that adds an impression of movement in the pictures. VERDICT A great addition for any community. This is a story about love and loss of extended family from a child's perspective where difficult realities are faced, but it still ends on a hopeful note.—Shelby Hogle - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Other - 09/22/2025 When a beloved aunt’s illness stills the sewing machine she uses to make special gifts, a child realizes what she’s lost in Chua’s heart-tugging tale. Weekend dinners at Ye Ye and Po Po’s house are a chance for the young narrator to see Ah Yi, who’s always at her old sewing machine that goes "clack, clack, clack." Ah Yi communicates love by sewing-bags, curtains, toys, and the child’s favorite, pajamas that are "soft. They are comfortable. And they are always just the right length." One week, Ah Yi gifts the narrator new pajamas in an unfavored pink; though Ah Yi says she’ll sew another pair, the woman’s hospitalization and subsequent death forestall the project. But as the family tidies Ah Yi’s things, the pink pajamas reappear, along with a final gift. Chua’s ink-drawn and digitally colored illustrations make the pink pajamas pop, while straightforward prose pierces in its simple yearning. Characters cue as Chinese. Ages 4-8. (Aug.) - Copyright 2025