Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 03/15/2013 Picking up where The Witch’s Guide to Cooking with Children (2009) ended, the Blink siblings—11-year-old science-buff Sol and 8-year-old feisty Connie—are fleeing Grand Creek after escaping witch Fay Holaderry’s cooking pot and their complicit parents. They’re off to seek refuge with their distant Aunt Heather, but after the bus breaks down, the pair gets lost in the forest and encounters further perils, including a witch with a dark secret and macabre collection. They fall victim to her sinister spell and are poised for a potentially dire fate. À la the previous title, which incorporated and extended the Hansel and Gretel-like premise, McGowan here creatively interweaves aspects of Grimms’ Brother and Sister, blending classic fairy-tale and contemporary elements; magic; suspense; and vibrant, diversely drawn kid protagonists into another edgy, absorbing read. Droll touches, descriptive and detailed prose, and interspersed (if occasionally superfluous) side characters’ stories all enliven the narrative and add depth. Tanaka’s dusky, black-and-white illustrations contribute to the eerie atmosphere of the book. - Copyright 2013 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 04/20/2013 Gr 4–6—This sequel to The Witch's Guide to Cooking with Children (Holt, 2009) is an exciting adventure. Sol, 11, always wanted to be athletic, but being turned into a deer was not how he envisioned becoming a better runner. Having just escaped from the evil witch who attempted to eat them, he and his younger sister, Connie, are once again under the influence of evil, this time in the form of a witch who feeds children potions and turns them into animals. She keeps these stuffed animals in a cabin and manipulates them into different poses. This is where she also keeps David, who is cursed to hunt the animal-shaped children against his will. Sol and Connie are his newest prey. But they have an ally, a wood thrush sent by the only person the children know they can trust, an old woman who possesses the power to control nature and animals. With the help of the thrush and her own strength in fighting the potion that is turning her into a rabbit, Connie fights the hunter, rescues her brother, and returns both of them to their human form. The added perspectives of the All Creatures Manager in the town they left and the journal of the hunter, tortured by his dreadful task, as well as the squabbling of the two siblings make this story a bit more complex than just a good-versus-evil tale. A well-done continuation of the story that leaves readers wanting to hear from this brother and sister again.—Clare A. Dombrowski, Amesbury Public Library, MA - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.