Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 12/01/2021 It might seem a terrifying prospect to encounter giant predatory worms bursting out of the Gobi Desert sands—but no, wait, maybe they’re just victims of a bad rap! So claims Fay, who takes the side of these much-feared cryptids, suggesting that they’re really soft, cuddly homebodies who just want to be our friends. Considering that the illustrations feature a clan of slavering, toothy horrors echoing her blandishments with wide-eyed innocence (“Venom? NEVER. Saliva is a perfectly adequate secretion”), readers may be inclined to doubt. Certainly the Bactrian camel and other surface-dwelling creatures who look on in stark terror do—until, that is, a sudden storm causes a flash flood that threatens to sweep them away, and they realize that Mongolian death worms can float. DEATH WORMS TO THE RESCUE! Young audiences may remain unconvinced of the worms' harmlessness—particularly after reading the author’s appended notes on recorded sightings and leads to published reports available online—but they will certainly be entertained. - Copyright 2021 Booklist.