Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 02/15/2021 With applicability well beyond its reading level, this latest outing from the creators of See the Cat: Three Stories about a Dog (2020) and other clever romps focuses on the importance of apologizing for accidents or offenses and how to do it properly. Wohnoutka lightens the earnest tone of LaRochelle’s pitch with comical scenes of anthropomorphic cartoon animals either caught in embarrassing faux pas—a penguin parachutist literally dropping in on a crocodile in a bathtub, for instance—or expressing remorse, both sincerely (“I’m sorry I borrowed your socks without permission,” says a giraffe to an earthworm) and insincerely. Along with rightly acknowledging that it might be hard, or even impossible, to fix mistakes (though an offender can make efforts to ensure that they don’t happen again), the author closes with a promise that saying sorry and meaning it will make you and, more important, the other person feel better. Pair this with Joanna Cotler’s Sorry (Really Sorry), illustrated by Harry Bliss (2020), for an unapologetically uplifting storytime. - Copyright 2021 Booklist.