Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 06/01/2018 PreS-Gr 2—Ostensibly about matching colors to emotions, this book fares better as a vehicle for honing visual literacy skills and enhancing vocabulary development. Some children may know that certain colors suggest emotions. This book expands on that concept by introducing some lesser-known hues including teal, magenta, ecru, jade, scarlet, lilac, and mauve—and clarifying their meanings with artwork (rendered in ink, watercolor, and gouache, and assembled digitally). For all of the colors, the childlike illustrations of a young girl and her classmates demonstrate how they're feeling. In some instances, readers will understand clearly what emotions the characters represent; in others, facial expressions, body language, and scenes are open to interpretation. Occasionally, some colors are confusingly or questionably rendered, as several shades may appear on the same page but are identified with only one name. The author also states that children are the colors rather than that they feel them—a point not all kids will understand; in the case of colors readers didn't know, this distinction may be lost entirely, especially where the illustrations are unclear. VERDICT An additional purchase. Use for "I Spy"-type games, encouraging students to identify classroom, household, and neighborhood objects that bear the color names in the book. Use also as a springboard for group and/or individual art projects, including color mixing.—Carol Goldman, formerly at Queens Library, NY - Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 07/01/2019 A young girl awakens smiling, the pink sun shining into her rosy-tinted room: “You’re pink,” she says. The next spread depicts her bedroom now washed in bluish-green as she looks into her fishbowl—“You’re teal.” Subsequent scenarios, primarily showing the girl in recognizable activities at home and at school, follow suit, in simple, direct-address rhyming text: “You’re gray. / You’re jade. / You’re every golden, warmy shade.” Meanwhile, charming ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations showcase the referenced color. While emotions go unnamed, many of the portrayed color associations will be familiar, such as blue suggesting sadness. However, others are less clear, like nap time being lilac, though this may allow for interpretations about the characters’ feelings. Throughout, the specifically named colors are sometimes incorporated among similar shades and aren’t always easy to distinguish, but this may inspire discussions of how colors—like moods—have variations. The full-color scenes conclude with the upbeat exhortation, “You’re all the colors, from hue to hue . . . . They’re the palette that makes you you,” which brings it all together in a positive, supportive note. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.