Bound To Stay Bound

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Booklist - 05/01/2014 *Starred Review* This winning picture book opens with a scene of a tiny community of attached houses on Offley Street, where the residents and their pets are engaged in all sorts of activities simultaneously. Next, the narrator introduces himself. Hermelin, a charming white mouse, lives in an attic and enjoys typing messages on an upright typewriter. After reading on a notice board that his neighbors have lost a number of items, he quickly solves each case and also saves a baby from an untimely end. The residents gather to thank their unknown benefactor, but when the mouse appears, panic ensues. Downcast, Hermelin prepares to leave Offley Street, but a friendly neighbor offers him a better option. In both the precisely written text and the richly detailed mixed-media illustrations, this title offers a treasure trove of narratives, large and small. The colorful artwork is full of drama and inventive details, and while the double-page spreads are sometimes crowded, they are also dynamic, well structured, and satisfying. Some children will enjoy the challenge of solving the mini-mysteries using clues found in the illustrations, while others will be content to follow the adventures of the amiable mouse as his tale unfolds. An absorbing picture book with a small but worthy hero. - Copyright 2014 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 05/01/2014 K-Gr 2—A wee white mouse has reading and typing skills that allow him to locate and return a series of missing objects on Offley Street. Hermelin (named for the cheese box in which he arrived), secretly leaves notes for the human residents, divulging locations of their misplaced treasures. When his message saves Baby McMumbo from the garbage truck, the residents throw a party in honor of their unknown benefactor. Then his identity is revealed, and their screaming departure banishes him to pest status. Luckily, young detective Emily admires his skills and offers him a partnership. This tale is rich in detail and plot. The cartoon drawings burst with witty features such as Hermelin's backpack. The hero's savvy and sweetness, along with Emily's pioneering, would make for fun sequels.—Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2014 Our mouse hero’s earliest memory is awakening in his cheese box nest and reading his name, Hermelin, on the lid. Finding a lovely little hidey hole in an attic, Hermelin realizes he can type on an old typewriter there, and his instinctive abilities to read and type lead him to believe he is destined for great things. His mission becomes clear the day he peers through toy binoculars at a row of houses, observing details that become critical in solving a host of mysteries on the block. Solving the puzzles may mark Hermelin’s (and readers’) moment of triumph, but his heroism isn’t so easily rewarded: when he attends a thank-you party in honor of his crime-solving and reveals himself as a rodent, he learns the sad truth that rodents are considered household pests. Happily, the owner of the attic is a bit of a detective herself and not only makes her guest welcome but invites him to join her as a team of private investigators, priming for sequels we trust are forthcoming. Viewers will delight in being one step ahead of Hermelin in solving each mini case, having undoubtedly noticed vital clues embedded in the two opening scenes of domestic activities on Offley Street. Grey, acknowledged maven of the significant detail (as in Traction Man, BCCB 5/05), not only creates a charming miniature world for Hermelin’s comfort but also manages to give him a chiseled jaw and noble bearing in comical contrast to the hapless humans. This British import will be a hit with children taking their first steps into the mystery genre. EB - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

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