Bound To Stay Bound

Other - 05/12/2025 A rising first grader has a magnificent sunflower summer in this homespun-feeling story from Heck (Golden Gate). After a teacher reads a book about the yellow blooms, the students are given a chance to plant three seeds of their own ("one for the birds, one for the rain, and one to grow"), and they eagerly watch as green dots burst forth into fast-growing seedlings. When summer arrives, only one of the plants brought home by the narrating protagonist, a pale-skinned child, achieves its full height, but it nevertheless wows. Steadily paced narration that maintains a sense of awe is scientifically detailed and deliberate, and thickly applied oil paint on brown paper gives the yellow-tinged illustrations a diorama-like dimensionality reminiscent of van Gogh’s sunflower paintings. When the bloom yields upwards of a thousand seeds spilled across a spread, the whole cycle seems poised to occur again, and a concluding moment knowingly nods to the power of a good book for kicking off something new. Characters are portrayed with various abilities and skin tones. Ages 4-8. Agent: Jordan Hamessley, JABberwocky Literary. (Aug.) - Copyright 2025

School Library Journal - 10/31/2025 K-Gr 3—A class project turns into a longform exercise in mindfulness and appreciation for the natural world in this gentle slice-of-life tale. Toward the end of the school year, a kindergarten teacher reads to her class about a farmer growing sunflowers. Inspired, the children each plant three sunflower seeds, which sprout one by one. After the last day of school, the story follows a single child, who takes his seeds home and nurtures them all summer, experiencing the full life cycle of the plant. Finally, all the children return to school, excited to expand and deepen their botanical knowledge. Heck fills her work with a healthy reverence for the power of learning. She strikes a perfect balance in her storytelling between small, personal moments and pedagogical content, cannily interweaving them into an irresistible narrative. The illustrations are as lovingly handcrafted as the classroom and curriculum they depict; bright oil paintings on brown paper imbue the visual landscape of the book alternately with a soothing air of community and a bright, radiant energy. Neatly mirroring the book's celebration of hands-on engagement with nature, the heavy impasto application of Heck's thick brushstrokes grants characters and environments a rough charm. In between, she strategically leaves stretches of paper open, the negative space serving as walls, tables, and in one meditative moment, a deer. VERDICT This quietly powerful story will make its way into group read-alouds, science curricula, and beloved home collections. A first purchase.—Jonah Dragan - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.