Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 09/15/2011 After underperforming on the Amalgamated Academic Independent City Schools Test, 12-year-old Norman finds himself paired with a most unusual tutor: Balthazar Birdsong, a quirky Mary Poppins type whose mission is to “get your heads and noses out of your textbooks and back into the clouds where they belong.” His bizarre weekly assignments include kite flying, clothes observing, and, most notably, dictionary reading. This latter task provides a framework of sorts for the plot, as Norman slugs his way through all 26 letters, giving himself, and the book, a consistently impish vocabulary. (The phone doesn’t ring; it “bombilates.”) The bad news is that Raschka’s debut novel is liable to exhaust many of its readers: every character is a quip-slinging chatterbox, with mediocre jokes flying willy-nilly as the oddball plot advances at its leisure. Raschka’s black-and-white illustrations, littered throughout, are more successful and do help ground elements of the often out-of-control story. - Copyright 2011 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 11/01/2011 Gr 5–8—When 12-year-old Norman Normann "craps out" on a test, his successful businessman father says, "I want to see a turnaround in the fortunes of that hot little prospect I call my son." So Norman is sent to an eccentric but likable tutor named Balthazar Birdsong, who ends up entertaining and educating the boy and his three best friends. Before long, they learn that Norman's father sells bombers, not airplanes, and they set off on what becomes a worldwide mission to dissuade him from this risky business. This novel, the first for renowned picture-book artist Raschka, has a lot going for it, especially in its use of wordplay and the type of sarcasm middle-school kids enjoy. There are some great pieces of advice along the way, too ("If you want to avoid danger, don't get born"). Raschka's small black-and-white pictures throughout add bright and funny touches. The book isn't without a few flaws, though. For instance, some of the philosophical bits go on too long, a few of the more-madcap events take on a somewhat random quality, and often the voices of Norman and his friends sound alike. But overall, avid fans of offbeat humor will enjoy the story.—Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 01/01/2012 When twelve-year-old Norman Normann fails the entrance exam to a private school, his parents decide he needs a tutor. They hire the eccentric Balthazar Birdsong, whose teaching methods include reading the dictionary and staring into the sky. Fortunately, Norman enjoys these activities, particularly because the words he learns in the dictionary seem to be helping him sort out a problem at home. It seems that Norman’s father (Orman Normann), who sells used bombers for a living, is getting involved with some very shady characters from the Pacific Rim, and it is up to Norman and his best friends to use what Balthazar has taught them to save Norman’s father from his own greed, bad karma, and some pretty dangerous characters. Raschka’s preoccupation with language, evident from his picture books (the iconic Yo! Yes?, BCCB 4/93), plays out in interesting ways here, as Norman and his best friend, Leonard, favor vowel-rich exclamations of “Eeeyaaa!”, even while they are learning an impressive amount of sophisticated vocabulary. This feature of the book makes it nerd lit for sure; readers will have to pay close attention to the dictionary lessons in order to follow the zany connections that the boys make as they pursue Norman’s father around the world. A man only a son could love, Norman’s father is a caricature of greed and insensitivity, prone to making jokes about Native Americans while he exploits equally caricatured people from Southeast Asia; indeed, there is nothing PC about this book except for Norman’s gentle scolds and the overarching message that what his father is doing is very wrong. Both broad humor and a more subtle sense of overall absurdity will prevent readers from taking any of the politics or portrayals seriously; instead they will focus on the infinite coolness of having a bizarre tutor and an adventure that features the boys climbing a mountain in Austria, walking all over New York City, and kite-surfing in Singapore before they ultimately save the day. KC - Copyright 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.