Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 12/15/2013 Tables turn, big time, in this zany tale about a cat who trains his little girl owner. This starts off conventionally enough as a girl-meets-kitten story, with only the tips of the kitten’s ear visible over the side of a cardboard box at first. Tallulah lures the kitten out of the box with a saucer of milk and diligently shows him the ins and outs of his new home. Training includes Tallulah sticking her own head through the cat door as an example and drawing a “catnap map.” Just when things seem to have settled into a routine, Tom the cat decides that since he’s been so well trained, maybe he could train Tallulah. Stage Two veers into the surreal, as Tom spies on Tallulah and uses a plastic fish and the old cardboard box to help the little girl act like a cat. Bright illustrations throughout wonderfully capture Tom’s expressions. The near sci-fi bent of the last part of the book may disturb some young readers, but you can’t deny that its weirdness is pretty darn fun. - Copyright 2013 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 01/01/2014 PreS-Gr 2—Tallulah woos her shy new kitten, Tom, with patience and considerate acts, such as creating a map to the best catnap spots and demonstrating how to use the pet door. Tom soon relaxes into home life and begins to expertly copy human behavior. He quietly observes, then masters, teeth brushing and fashion, but despairs that Tallulah's continued attempts to be a cat are less successful. He boxes her up in the crate from whence he came and returns her to the pet shop, asking for a puppy. Tables turn yet again when readers see Tallulah take on the role of dog, gnawing a bone on the sofa as Tom reads a puppy training manual. Reeve's mixed-media art brings festive colors and homey details to this chuckle-worthy tale for cat lovers.—Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.