Bound To Stay Bound

Other - 08/04/2025 After weather events destroy their crops two years running, young Junior’s Black family relocates to town. In Jim Crow-era Roxboro, N.C., Junior’s schoolmates tell him that "we have our own library"-a log cabin hidden in the woods, where "the books seemed to go on forever," Ramsey writes. Junior carefully chooses a title each for himself, his mother, and his father-and in doing so learns that his father does not know how to read. Christie’s rich acrylic illustrations employ smudgy textures across town and country landscapes in this personal-feeling work about adult illiteracy that ends with a moving reflection on intergenerational connection and different kinds of knowledge. An author’s note concludes. Ages 7-11. (Aug.) - Copyright 2025

School Library Journal - 10/24/2025 Gr 2–5—After Junior's family's farm is devastated for the second year in a row in 1959, his parents move them all to Roxboro, NC, with the hope of a more stable living in the city. Junior, who loved the country, struggles to adjust to the particulars of his new home, until some school friends introduce him to a gem: a library in the woods, for Black residents. This special place, featuring many books by Black authors, enchants Junior, who proudly brings home a book for himself and one book each for his mother and father. Through them, Junior learns more about his father's relationship with reading and makes an important bond. A generous author's note reveals to readers that this fictional story has roots in reality, including Ramsey's time as a child spent at the library in the book. Christie's striking and contemplative acrylic paintings, drifting effortlessly from spare but glowing landscapes to focused moments of emotion, are a perfect pairing for the slow-paced but affecting prose. VERDICT Quiet and powerful; purchase wherever picture book historical fiction is in demand.—Darla Salva Cruz - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.