Bound To Stay Bound

Other - 07/14/2025 After his grandmother’s worsening Alzheimer’s disease leaves her unable to care for him, middle schooler Jaxon moves to sleepy Walkonby, Kans., to live with his callous aunt Helga and uncle Clive, and their six unpleasant kids. When his attempts to run away prove unsuccessful, Jax instead establishes his own micronation-the Free State of Jax-on a raft in the hot springs pond of prickly and reclusive adult neighbor Owen. Owen, who is rumored to have murdered his own brother, allows Jax to stay under the condition that the youth write a constitution. Thus begins Jax’s crash course in developing a new society, which he institutes mostly on the fly: a supportive classmate is made its general, her lawyer mother becomes the attorney general, and local kids comprise its army. Between regular skirmishes with his cousins, Jax works on beautifying Owen’s property, all the while wondering if the rumors about him are true. This first foray into contemporary middle grade by Nielsen (One Wrong Step) is somewhat uneven; the over-the-top humor of Jax’s family antics is often at odds with the nuanced exploration of personal agency, while the central mystery regarding Owen proves less intriguing than Jax’s firsthand civics education. Main characters read as white. Ages 8-12. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Aevitas Creative. (Oct.) - Copyright 2025

School Library Journal - 09/26/2025 Gr 3–7—Young adult author Nielsen steps away from historical fiction to write an amusing tale of a boy who attempts to steer his life in a different direction. Jax's grandmother can no longer care for him, and he is forced to move in with Uncle Clive Grimmitz, Aunt Helga, and their six delinquent children. His aunt and uncle force him to do the dirty work around the house while his cousins create mischief in the Kansas town of Walkonby. To escape this tyrannical reign, Jax takes a raft over to the pond nearby and declares it The Free State of Jax. While Jax battles the Grimmitz family (whose only motive for adopting him is to get his grandmother's inheritance), the children and a few adults in town join Jax to help him expand his pond into a swimming hole they can all enjoy. Jax, who is white, is an intelligent, compassionate kid whose goal is to help others as much as it is to help himself, while the Grimmitz children are entertainingly terrible, reminiscent of the Herdman children from Barbara Robinson's 1972 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Readers will be rooting for Jax to succeed at standing up for himself and carving out his own space. VERDICT This is strong purchase for libraries that house middle grade collections.—Beth Brentlinger - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.