Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 08/01/2022 The resident of apartment 2C agrees to wake his neighbor, 2B, in 20 coconuts—only, 2C has no idea what that means. Coconut time?! The rest of the bustling building seems to understand, but 2C hails “from a long line of KNOW-IT-ALLS, and ‘I DON’T KNOW’ is something [they] just DON’T say.” After some humorous self-doubt that involves a sock, a chicken, and a consultation with his cell phone, 2C accidentally wakes his neighbor on time before conceding he does not understand. 2C is reassured by 2B that asking for clarity “doesn’t mean that you’re not SMART,” while a note elaborates in praise of curious questioning. The cartoonish residents of the apartment building are expressive and vibrantly hued, and, typical of Keller’s work, silliness abounds in illustrative details. Keller has an automatic audience, but those interested in exploring deeper issues of truth-seeking and the merits of asking for clarity will find as many inroads as readers who simply appreciate her joyful chaos. An instructive and delightfully absurd story from a beloved and reliable picture-book creator. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 12/16/2022 Gr 1–3—In an apartment building where all the residents seem to know one another, a pink drop-shaped resident with a broken alarm clock asks a blue noodle to wake her up in 20 coconuts. It's a downhill slide into chaos as the blue noodle freaks out while a redhead wearing a bucket wakes up the pink one, known informally by her apartment number, 2C, at the appointed coconut. Readers will try to guess the meaning of this time challenge, only to be thrown under the bus as the substitute measure of "bananas" is tossed into the salad. This is the plot: The blue noodle spends the entire book attempting to figure out what "20 coconuts" refers to, only to find out that no one knows. The moral of the story is to admit when you do not know something to save everyone from disarray and confusion. The other moral is to let fever dreams disappear into the mists; like the blue noodle, readers may feel as if an inside joke has been played out at their expense. VERDICT This will lead to raucous story hours where adults have the patience for the free-for-all, anything goes layout and text bubbles; it's nevertheless a long way to go for a soggy punchline that's quickly cast aside.—Kimberly Olson Fakih - Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.