Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 01/01/2014 Gr 4–7—A delightful and inspiring debut. Mama has a wandering heart, which means that 12-year-old Felicity Pickle and her little sister, Frannie Jo, have wandered along with her in their battered van. But Midnight Gulch feels like home, and not just because it's where Mama grew up. It's one of those quirky little towns where there just might be magic. It's the characters that make this story shine: gruff Aunt Cleo and her tongue-tied swain; Oliver and Ponder, purveyors of unusual ice cream and baked goods, respectively; Jewell Pickett, hair-stylist and auto-mechanic extraordinaire; and her son Jonah, who has the amazing ability to make things better for anybody, despite his own difficulties. And Felicity, who sees words everywhere and uses them in remarkable ways. She's a girl who loves deeply and openly, and who creates her own kind of magic. Added to these elements are a series of folkloric backstories about feuding brothers, doomed romances, mysterious do-gooders, lost children, and a curse. Mibs Beaumont and her magically gifted clan from Ingrid Law's Savvy (Dial, 2008) would feel right at home here. As Felicity loves to say, "Yes…yes…yes!"—Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 02/15/2014 Felicity arrives in Midnight Gulch and learns from her mama that there used to be magic there. Magic is a bonus for Felicity, who longs to stay in one place so she can make a friend. She finds one in wheelchair-bound Jonah, and he fills in Felicity on the town’s magical history and its people. And, as it turns out, Felicity is capable of magic herself—word collecting. She sees words everywhere—on people, in her glass of milk, and in the trees. The word “treasures” that she finds are the real winner for this novel. (The words are not part of the sentence structure, but they add to the story by revealing the moods of people she sees, or are used as onomatopoeia.) The unusual language, showing a tinge of Tennessee mountain dialect, spins a web around the story that touches on helping others, budding friendships, and strength of family. First-time novelist Lloyd has produced a “spindiddly” product that will hearten word and poetry lovers and encourage those who have almost lost hope for a happy ending. - Copyright 2014 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 05/01/2014 Sixth-grader Felicity Pickle and her little sister, Frannie, have high hopes that their move to their mother’s hometown of Midnight Gulch, Tennessee, will finally put a stop to Mama’s wanderings and prove to be a permanent home for the family. Although Felicity has a gift with words, both “seeing” them in the air around people and places and making up poems with them, she gets tongue-tied in public, making it difficult to form friendships. Jonah doesn’t mind, though, and the two become fast friends; their investigation into the rumored fanciful history of the town proves fruitful, revealing the legacy of the magically talented Threadbare Brothers who quarreled, parted ways, and were ever after cursed, thus leaving the town, once full of magic, with only a “snicker” of magic left. Can Felicity figure out how to break the curse, bring magic back to Midnight Gulch, and convince Mama to stay put there? Sure, there are so many coincidences here that you can’t swing a cat without hitting one, but this cozy fantasy reveals its secrets in a satisfyingly folkloric way and the particular manifestations of the town’s magic are intriguing. Language-loving middle-graders will also be enchanted by Felicity’s gift of being able to see words and may be inspired to begin their own “word collections.” The colorful characters and the town’s magical, memory-inducing ice cream will appeal to fans of Law’s Savvy (BCCB 9/08). JH - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Loading...