Bound To Stay Bound

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Booklist - 04/15/2012 *Starred Review* Socko’s distress at his single-mother Delia’s sudden announcement that they’re escaping their rundown but familiar inner-city neighborhood for a new suburban house that will be given to them in exchange for caring for an elderly relative is only compounded when they arrive to find that they are the only residents in a dusty, unfinished development. Worse yet, since his mother works full time at the Phat Burger downtown, Socko finds himself at the beck and call of her ill-tempered, wheelchair-bound, estranged white grandfather—an octogenarian army vet aptly dubbed The General. The isolation ends, but other issues arise with the arrival of the development’s upper-crust but financially strapped owners and their lonely daughter, Livvy; Socko’s discovery of a homeless family squatting in one of the empty houses; and, climactically, a heroic collective operation to pry teenage former neighbor Junebug away from a scary and violent boyfriend. Deftly tracking developing relationships within her multigenerational cast, Fogelin keeps the tone light (Despite all her rich-girl weirdness Socko was starting to like Livvy, at least as a friend—and maybe as a girl of the opposite sex) but free of sentimentality. At book’s end, Socko is in a growing, functional extended family that is part of a small but strengthening community. A winsome tale chock-full of strong-minded people providing mutual support and well-timed nudges in good directions. - Copyright 2012 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 07/01/2012 Gr 6–8—Socko Starr's summer has begun on an ominous note. He and his friend Damien have just put themselves in the path of the local gang leader. Then his mother shocks everyone with a surprise announcement that the family is relocating to a subdivision far away from their inner-city apartment complex. His great-grandfather, aka the General, whom Socko has never met, will be joining them. Without his consent, the 13-year-old is moved to Moon Ridge Estates, which is nothing like its advertisements, and away from Damien, who is left to deal with the dangers of the old neighborhood. He goes on recon missions for the General but things begin to get interesting when another family moves in across the street. As Socko begins to enjoy his new life, problems from his old life threaten to invade. The novel gets off to a slow start but picks up steam once the family moves. The characters are initially interesting, but their development is stunted by the author telling readers about their growth rather than demonstrating it in the narrative.—Naphtali L. Faris, Missouri State Library, Jefferson City - Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

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