Bound To Stay Bound

Other - 05/19/2025 In spectacularly composed signature-style spreads, Ransome (Fighting with Love) crafts a wordless story that centers an unhoused child and caretaker. From school pickup to drop-off, the close, familial-feeling figures, portrayed as Black, together navigate a bustling, New York City-like metropolis. They first stop at a fast-food restaurant, then walk through bustling streets to a comparatively empty library, where the adult reads and the child diligently completes homework until closing time. With the library’s lights turning off, they make their way on spotlit paths through a park, where they spend the night on a bench, flanked by nocturnal animals-the adult watching over the child-before the sun rises. A shirt is changed and hair combed, teeth-brushing occurs at a park drinking fountain, and the school day begins again. Richly detailed, carefully lighted images guide readers through this duo’s evening and morning in visuals that brim, throughout scenes of the two in crowds and alone, with abiding love and care. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Includes an author’s note. Ages 3-7. Agent: Erica Rand Silverman, Stimola Literary. (Aug.) - Copyright 2025

School Library Journal - 09/01/2025 K-Gr 4—In this wordless picture book, an unhoused mother and son do what is necessary to survive in an urban setting. Through lively watercolor scenes, readers experience their unsettling daily routine. The characters represented are Black, highlighting the economic disparity many marginalized communities grapple with in most major cities. There is diversity represented in the background characters who go about their busy lives with no notion of what inner struggles the mother and son face. Ransome casts a spotlight on libraries as a place of refuge. When the library closes, the mother and son must seek out a place to sleep. They wander in the darkness before ending up on a park bench while local wildlife watches on. When they awaken, the mother ensures her son is well-groomed and ready to start another school day. This is a tough, deeply moving story that sadly is all too common. VERDICT Recommended for lower elementary grades where fearless books on difficult topics, here masterfully captured in wordless form, are collected and lauded as required viewing.—Alison Schwartz - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 08/01/2025 *Starred Review* This wordless picture book begins in an unidentified urban setting, where a woman walks across a busy street, underneath elevated train tracks. She’s picking up her son from school, who we see high-fiving a friend goodbye before running to give his mom a hug. He tells her all about his day, using animated gestures, and the pair walks into a fast-food restaurant, with the woman’s arm affectionately draped over her son’s shoulders. They say grace before they eat and then venture out into the now-darkened streets, heading to the public library. The boy does homework, mom reads a book, and they stay until the librarian turns out the lights. Back outside, they head to a bench in a city park. The boy settles down to sleep, covered by his mother’s jacket. Mom keeps watch; when morning comes, the boy changes into a different shirt and brushes his teeth at a water fountain, and the pair hustles off to school. Ransome’s skillfully rendered watercolor-and-pencil illustrations eloquently convey this scenario. Each page offers nuanced details (other kids carrying lunch boxes, the boy self-assuredly striking a yoga pose) that effortlessly propel the action. The love between the mother and child is evident; their circumstance of being unhoused is all too prevalent. Intended for younger audiences, this simple but powerful offering has multiple applications for all age groups. - Copyright 2025 Booklist.