Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 08/01/2019 *Starred Review* Heidicker (Attack of the 50-Foot Wallflower, 2018) deftly transitions from YA to middle-grade fiction with his account of seven fox kits on the prowl for scary bedtime stories. Cute, right? Only if you find the anxious cowering of both kids and kits endearing. But for a certain type of reader—those lost in a battered copy of Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark—this is exactly the kind of book they’re hunting for. The vulpine siblings venture into Antler Wood to find Bog Cavern, a place, their mother has cautioned, where an old storyteller lives who will tell them “a story so frightening it will put the white in your tail.” This is no exaggeration: the storyteller doles out two tales of two kits, Mia and Uly, who endure different horrors, from injuries to hunters’ traps to rabid animals, eventually bringing their narratives together. Throughout, the stories are punctuated with unsettling black-and-white illustrations and pauses to momentarily shift the focus back to the original seven kits, effectively building suspense and providing momentary relief for the storyteller’s audience. As the tensions and dangers build, the siblings’ numbers dwindle as they slip away for the comfort of their den. Kids able to brave the harrowing adventures of Mia and Uly are in for a chilling roller coaster of a read. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.