Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 02/01/2012 K-Gr 2—In 1934, the Western world had never seen a panda, so William Harkness set off from the United States in an effort to bring one back from China. He died during the expedition. His widow picked up on the cause and went to China herself, something unprecedented for a woman at that time. Once there, she paired up with a local guide; had the right clothing and shoes made; packed medicine, guns, and more into 22 pieces of luggage; and took the long, harsh journey into the country's interior. They eventually found an abandoned baby panda. She brought it back to America where it ended up at the Brookfield Zoo, just outside Chicago. That panda is now a mounted exhibit at the Field Museum. This is a gorgeous book. The illustrations are a combination of small and large watercolor drawings, background collages using decorative Chinese papers, floral prints, maps, and Chinese lettering, as well as a few photographs. This little gem will be perfect for one-on-one sharing and for those second-grade biography assignments. It's simply stunning.—Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI - Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 02/15/2012 *Starred Review* The first lines provide the hook, “In 1934, Ruth Harkness had never seen a panda bear. Not many people in the world had.” When her husband dies in China, Harkness grieves for him and longs for the panda he had promised to bring home to her. Despite dire warnings from friends, the determined tea-gown designer set off for China on her own to find a panda and bring it back to the U.S. Sprinkling in snippets from Harkness’ own writings, this account describes her dangerous journey in an engaging, graceful narrative. The expedition is placed in the context of the time, expectations of women, and attitudes toward animals in captivity. This masterful book design employs multiple panels per page to establish contemporary attitudes and move the story, leading to the dramatic double-page spread revealing the baby panda. Sweet’s Asian-style watercolor landscapes are breathtakingly beautiful. Archival postcards, coins, and newspaper headlines add delicious detail that help convey the subsequent “Panda-monium.” Appended matter includes a chronology, a short bibliography, and an author’s note explaining changes in attitudes regarding captured animals. A delight. - Copyright 2012 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 04/01/2012 What with the common affection for pandas these days, it’s easy to forget there was a time when people outside of China had no idea of what one was. One of the first people to change that was Ruth Harkness, New York socialite and widow of an explorer, who in 1936 left her comfortable home to travel to the wilds of China in hopes of bringing the first panda ever to America. Though dismissed by those in the know, Mrs. Harkness found a sympathetic guide, journeyed through the mountains where pandas dwelled, and finally found a baby panda, which she named Su Lin; after taking him back to America, she gave him to Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo. While audiences will need to resort to the end matter to get some of their questions answered (especially “What happened to Su Lin?”), it’s an intriguing picture of one woman’s unexpected daring and an event that changed the popular face of world zoology. Sweet backs her trim line-and-watercolor figures with collections of memorabilia, rich textures, and swatches of Chinese manuscript, leavening intricate, carefully framed historical compositions with open and coolly beautiful landscapes; the result effectively conveys both the freshness of Harkness’ experience and the storied past of the country that was so startlingly new to her. Pair this with Joanne Ryder’s Panda Kindergarten (BCCB 9/09) for a deeper look at these appealing critters, or with one of Don Brown’s explorer picture books to give Ruth Harkness some classic context. End matter includes a timeline, a note with more information about the impact of Harkness’ acquisition of Su Lin, and a selected bibliography. DS - Copyright 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

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