Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 09/01/2011 Abandoned by his parents as a baby, Pigeon Jones is raised on the back of Birch, a prodigious, compassionate painting elephant. Together, boy and elephant embark on a fantastical journey in and out of zoos, circuses, a car wash, and the museums of Paris on an ostensible search for Pigeon’s parents and Birch’s long-lost acrobat love. Cuevas’ flight of imagination unfolds in episodes of unpredictable nonsense as Birch and Pigeon make their haphazard way home. Pigeon’s first-person voice traces the story’s meanderings with a natural poetry, while Young’s spare ink drawings ground the proceedings, conveying remarkable emotional weight in a few gestures. The unlikely combination of zany story arc, resonant illustrations, and graceful telling come together in a memorable and original offering. - Copyright 2011 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 12/01/2011 Abandoned by his mother and father as an infant, Pigeon Jones found himself a stand-in parent when he crawled off of the orphanage steps, across town, and onto the back of a friendly-looking elephant. Since then, Pigeon and Birch have been inseparable: Pigeon lives on the elephant’s back, never leaving the safety of his protective pachyderm, not even to attend the fifth grade; he even becomes celebrated as an artistic child prodigy (though it’s Birch doing the painting). When Birch decides he’d like to find the beautiful acrobat he was once in love with and Pigeon wants to start looking for his real parents, the two friends embark on a journey that takes them from New York to Hollywood to Paris in a search for something that, in the end, they discover they already had. The mature viewpoint of the evocative, flowing prose makes it clear that little Pigeon is narrating his tale from a much older age, but the tone still manages to effortlessly capture the innocent and at times bewildered wonder of a child’s perspective. Parents reading with their children will most certainly recognize themselves in the old elephant’s fierce protectiveness and his sacrifices for Pigeon, while children will relate to Pigeon’s struggle to choose between the safety of a place well known and the allure of the big wide world. The emotional push and pull between the two protagonists is framed nicely by their fantastic, if somewhat purposeless, adventure, so that even listeners not ready to think about the possibility of leaving the nest will appreciate the fable-like quality of the friends’ journey. This is a contemplative but entertaining tale perfect to share at bedtime or on a rainy afternoon. Final illustrations not seen. KQG - Copyright 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

School Library Journal - 12/01/2011 Gr 4–6—A preposterous premise is the underpinning for this delightful, touching fable, narrated by big-eared Pigeon Jones, a boy who has spent his life on the back of a white Indian elephant with artistic talent. Abandoned as a baby on the steps of an orphanage by his distracted parents, Pigeon soon crawls out of his basket and is found and nurtured by Birch, formerly of the circus and, recently, the car-wash business. Pigeon pines for his lost family and Birch makes pictures with deep meaning while dreaming of his lost love, an acrobat who ran away to Paris with another acrobat. All goes well until it is time for the boy to end homeschooling and enter fifth grade while still on the elephant's back. Pigeon is taunted at school but imagination and love carry him along and he even finds his first love, Darling Clementine. For his 10th birthday, Pigeon convinces Birch that they should travel to Paris to seek the elephant's acrobat and recognition for his art, as well as Pigeon's own parents. Adventures ensue, featuring singing hoboes on a freight train, capture and escape at the Bronx Zoo, artistic discovery in Hollywood, international fame, and much more. The story is told with poignancy, lyricism, and humor, and its format includes simple, sometimes unfinished-looking pen-and-ink sketches, a chart, a pie graph of "elephant jobs," a musical score, and a chapter of postcard messages. This magical, moving novel is sure to be enjoyed by fans of Daniel Pinkwater, Margery Williams's The Velveteen Rabbit, and the tales of Kate DiCamillo.—Marie Orlando, formerly at Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

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