Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 08/01/2019 MacLachlan pays tribute to a symbol of the American farm as she relates changes and growth in a family over the last century. The narrator, who was five years old in 1919, reminisces about the building of his family’s barn from the foundation to its finishing touch of bright red paint. The barn is central to the lives of the farm family: it houses livestock, equipment, and harvested crops, but also offers shelter to owls, swallows, mice, and cats. It is the setting for weddings and generations of children’s hayloft slumber parties as well as the birth of farm animals. Time passes and the storyteller—always wearing a red cap that makes him easy to spot in the illustrations—leaves home to attend school but returns to take over the farm. Watercolor, gouache, pencil, ink, and digital media in browns, tans, and cinnamon, enable the red of the cap and the barn to stand out. The solid building at the heart of the farm offers comfort and continuity in the life of a family. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 09/01/2019 K-Gr 2—MacLachlan's gift for portraying bucolic bliss returns in this account of a 1919 barn raising and the narrator's experiences with the building as years pass. When Jack is five, his community gathers for the framing, building, raising, and painting of what his father dubs the Hundred-Year Barn. Meanwhile, youngsters play in a stream, chow down at celebration feasts, and share scary story at sleepovers in the barn. The narrator ages, assuming tasks of responsibility for the structure and its residents. Sweeping the barn as an adult, Jack discovers a fallen nest containing the wedding ring his father lost during the barn build. Pak applies gouache, pencil, ink, and digital media for folksy illustrations that offer warm gold overtones, and complement the narrator's ever-red cap. Fox, possum, cat, dog, and mouse each meander into the story with winsome expressions, adding to the serene mood. VERDICT This story's poetry and pace are mellow, ideal for a quiet time.—Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.