Bound To Stay Bound

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School Library Journal - 06/01/2013 PreS-Gr 1—Despite appealingly piratical illustrations, this swashbuckling title is thin on story and unsuccessful as an alphabet book. Each letter is represented by a boy's name, followed by a rhyming statement about him. It begins, "Pirate Arty. First to the party" and ends with, "Pirate Zach. The final attack." While the concept is clever enough, the names are written in a medieval-style type, preventing easy recognition by youngsters learning their letters. Additionally, the name choices are not always effective at presenting the appropriate sounds. The most problematic is the letter "J," Pirate Juan, which does not make the English "j" sound. The humorous collage illustrations are grotesquely cartoonish, slightly reminiscent of the work of David Shannon or Victoria Chess. The multicultural boys have huge, blocklike teeth, oversize heads, semicircle noses, and googly eyes. Busily doing everything from eating, to swimming, to walking the plank, they are joined on every page by bug-eyed frogs that add to the humor and tie the story together. The art will likely be a big hit with pirate fans everywhere, and a few sophisticated asides will appeal to parents, but those hoping for a plot or in search of books for an alphabet bin will need to look elsewhere.—Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2013 As in his Twenty-Six Princesses (BCCB 6/08), Horowitz presents twenty-six characters, one for each letter of the alphabet, from “Pirate Arty. First to the party,” to “Pirate Zach. The final attack.” There are nasty pirates (“Pirate Brad. Born to be bad”) and not-so-nasty ones (“Pirate Doug. Needs a hug”), bold buccaneers (“Pirate Frank. Walks the plank”) and more timid ones (“Pirate Grant. Can’t”). The text lacks any substantial narrative, but it’s still an amusing and lively list, and pirate-loving youngsters may enjoy the multitude of variations on Horowitz’s piratical theme. Some of the compositions are clunky, but the cartoonish illustrations, created with construction paper, charcoal, colored pencils, “and a chicken feather or two,” are as bold and brash as their subject. Most spreads will carry well to a crowd, making this useful for storytimes and classroom readalouds. Particularly humorous are the froggy sidekicks featured on each page, whose pop-eyes and frequently worried mouths convey their concern and disapproval with the pirates’ wild antics. This would be useful as an addition to a pirate-themed storytime lineup or as part of an abecedary collection; it might also work as a read-alone title for reluctant primary-grade readers. JH - Copyright 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

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