Bound To Stay Bound

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Bulletin for the Center... - 05/01/2014 Oh, Camp Harmony, could your name be any less suitable? Once the animals there all turn into slavering attack beasts desperate for human flesh, Heath and his little gang of close camper friends forget all about the usual camp activities and begin a harrowing journey out of the woods and toward a nearby town that, they hope, will represent safety. While the kids quickly learn that water is immediately fatal to the critters, this knowledge doesn’t provide as much security as they would like: even as they wade down the river they hit shallow spots, massive hordes of bats, and beavers who are the only infected mammals not killed by water. The backstory on how the animals got infected doesn’t actually add much—this book is all about a group of memorable young kids trying to cope with a series of events that is completely outside the scope of their barely formed social, survival, and ethical toolkits. The death count is slightly startling for a book aimed at this age range, but it makes sense given the ferocity of the animals and the boys’ understandable lack of preparation for maddened woodland creatures. Offer this to adventure fans and budding horror buffs, sure, but realistic fiction fans may also find the effective character development and thoughtful pacing as worthwhile as the monstrous foaming-mouthed squirrels. AS - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Booklist - 04/01/2014 Good old Camp Harmony. Horseback riding, archery, and water-skiing on the crystal-­clear Dray River. But the summertime fun screeches to a halt when campers are attacked by an apparently rabid porcupine, followed by a pack of wolves, the camp horses, and, soon, every mammal in the vicinity. As the horde of animals ravages the camp, infecting bite victims with a disease that kills them almost instantly, Heath and a small group of resourceful campers take to the safety of the river to escape the deadly critters, and each character’s strengths and weaknesses are revealed as the group struggles to survive. Though Lettrick’s debut suffers from some clumsy language and some contrived B-movie stereotypes—cliché characters (including an African American boy who dies early on in the attack); convenient plot twists; a relentless, three-digit body count; and a tidy, sunny, everything’s-right-in-the-world epilogue—readers who have chewed through Goosebumps or similar titles will appreciate the gruesome terror of this Night of the Living Dead meets The Island of Dr. Moreau story in a classic summer-camp setting. - Copyright 2014 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 06/01/2014 Gr 6–9—What's not to love about Camp Harmony? Fourteen-year-old Heath likes the setting and activities, and he's even made friends. But the wolves are howling, the horses are skittish, and by the time the rabid porcupine goes on the attack, camp isn't so much fun anymore. Suddenly every single animal for miles around is frothing at the mouth and gunning for humans. Heath and the last remaining survivors attempt to make their way back to civilization, fighting not only the wildlife but their own demons. Among the gang are the fat kid, the bug-obsessed kid, horse-mad twins Em(ma) and Em(ily), the former bully, the little girl, and Machiavellian chess player Will Stringer, whom Heath describes as "operating on a whole different level than the rest of them, like Einstein or Batman." The pace is breathless (with a brief time-out for a swimming lesson) and the scenario plenty gory and horrifying. Heath is almost too good to be true—smart, compassionate, genuinely nice, and a natural leader—but his secret explains a lot of that, and he's not annoying about it. Readers who like their horror strewn with corpses, leavened with compassion, and rooted in reality will find this one entertaining indeed.—Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

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