Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 04/01/2026 *Starred Review* For the boy, life in the tangled woods known as the Scura min Scurse affords few pleasures. His time is spent doing chores for Modor and Faeder, a stern pair, quick to mete out punishments. But beneath his mattress are his Tatters, scraps of paper containing fragments of wonderful stories that convince Bonebag, for that is the boy’s name, that a better way of life exists beyond the Scura min Scurse. The opportunity to find out comes after a horrifying development forces Bonebag to flee for his life with the help of a kind ghost girl. The world Bonebag stumbles into is reminiscent of Dickensian London, starkly divided into haves and have-nots, where a pickpocket named Toby Lightfingers takes Bonebag under his wing. All orphans, the pickpocket gang makes its home in an abandoned subway tunnel, safe from the clutches of the police-like yellowjaks. As Bonebag learns the ropes, he never loses sight of his objective to find his real parents—not the cruel substitutes that raised him. David Elliott (Bull, 2017) and his son E. M. Elliott combine their talents to tell a dark, immersive tale that never loses its sense of hope. Friendship and family emerge as themes as plot threads come together in surprising ways, but the visceral descriptions, entertaining pickpocket parlance, and original folklore are what make the story unforgettable. - Copyright 2026 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 05/15/2026 Gr 5 Up—Bonebag lives in a dark, closed-in forest with parents who are more cold than caring, holding onto a handful of strange, unexplained objects that suggest his life wasn't always like this. When he begins to move beyond that controlled world and encounters others, he's pulled into the unsettling process of figuring out who he is and where he came from. This is a genuinely strange book: in tone, structure, and imagery. It leans hard into the eerie and the grotesque, with monsters, shifting realities, and a narrative that asks readers to find their footing without much guidance. Some readers will appreciate the atmosphere and the layers of mystery. Others may find it frustratingly confusing, especially early on, when it's difficult to get a clear sense of what's happening or why. There's something compelling underneath it all—questions of identity, memory, and what it means to belong—but it's wrapped in a story that feels intentionally disorienting. At times it works, creating a dark, fairy-tale-like mood; at other times, it seems heavy under the guise of the plot. VERDICT Best for readers who enjoy darker, more unusual fantasy and don't mind being patient with the narrative.—Rachel Joiner - Copyright 2026 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.