Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 05/01/2014 *Starred Review* Just when Lynn’s family falls apart yet again, she meets Blossom, who opens her eyes to a different way of seeing society. Foundling Blossom is part of an unorthodox family of Underlanders, living secretly outside the economy, and she’s searching out ordinary citizen experiences, such as having a friend. Blossom and her two brothers—one growing away from the family and a younger one whose behavior lies on the autism ­spectrum—have long been raised illegally by Shakespeare-spouting Fossick. The quirky characters in this perceptive friendship story are unique, to say the least, but also remarkably plausible. Together, they will draw readers into understanding Lynn’s chief conflict: keeping her new friend a secret from both her old friends Kas and Celia as well as her manic, impulsive mother. Blossom’s brother Tron, manga come to life, is so enchanting, he almost steals the story, but award-winning author Ellis remains firmly focused on the girls’ friendship, which does survive Lynn’s betrayal. Appealing and provocative, this challenges readers to assess their own lives, bringing up compelling issues as wide-ranging as the ills of consumerism and the obligations of friendship. - Copyright 2014 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 05/01/2014 Gr 6–8—With the exception of her quirky, unmarried mother, Lynn is a typical 13-year-old Canadian, navigating through life filled with choir practice, projects, best friends, and school. Things start to fall apart when her mom wrecks her relationship with the only man who has ever stuck around and Lynn's passport doesn't come in time for her to take the choir trip with the rest of her friends, who leave for Portland and the promise of a fun week away from school. Then a mysterious girl named Blossom is thrust into her life and introduces her to a wonderful world within their city called the Underland. Ellis's descriptions of the Underlanders are enthralling, and readers will easily believe that people live off the grid within big cities. While Lynn's ability to break the rules and join the Underlanders so easily seems questionable at first, the compelling cast of characters enable readers to suspend disbelief. Each of the Underlanders has an interesting, heartbreaking story that is developed throughout to keep readers guessing. Lynn's difficult relationship with her mother and her strong bonds with friends make this story very relatable. A thoughtful, exciting read that makes everything ordinary suddenly have the possibility to be extraordinary.—Ellen Norton, White Oak Library District, Crest Hill, IL - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 06/01/2014 Raised by a mercurial New-Agey mother, teenaged Lynn thinks she’s seen all of the alternative lifestyles out there. She has her eyes opened, however, when she meets Blossom, a poised and interesting girl who lives with an assembled family in a forgotten area under the reservoir in a local park. With Lynn’s best friends away on a choir trip, she soon bonds with Blossom and immerses herself in the girl’s off-the-grid world, where the “Underlanders” survive by using the castoffs of “Citizens” like Lynn. As Lynn spends more time at odd hours with Blossom, she must explain to her mother where she’s been; her mother then heedlessly blurts out the Underlanders’ secret to the media during a local protest, shattering the lives of the people Lynn sought to protect. Ellis is simultaneously a knotty and substantive writer and one with a light, conversational style, so the third-person narration makes Lynn a relatable protagonist even amid a highly unusual situation. The Underlander life is ingenious and fascinating, verging on the fantastical (it’s rightfully compared within the book to The Borrowers), and Blossom and her family are deeply engaging. The book nonetheless remains aware of its real-life issues, with Lynn consciously squelching some of her reservations about Blossom’s lifestyle (her lack of schooling, her unorthodox entry into the family as an abandoned baby) even as she loves the romantic creativity of the Underlanders’ world. As a result, this will be an excellent book for discussion, eliciting lively partisanship on the question of what’s right and wrong here; readers’ take on the ethics will determine just how happily ever after they think the characters end up living. DS - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.