Bound To Stay Bound

Bulletin for the Center... - 05/01/2014 Ruff Ruffman, doggy star of the PBS Kids show Fetch!, jumps on to the early chapter book scene in these short adventures. First, his “fancy pants” go missing, and then he receives a fax stating that he’s been fired. Ruff assumes the “Ha Ha” signature on the fax belongs to Harriet Hackensack, the Australian entrepreneur who just bought the TV station that airs his show and who hates dogs. Alongside Blossom, his laconic feline show supervisor, Ruff constructs a green-energy submarine doghouse-mobile to confront Hackensack, a plan that backfires until Blossom saves the day. Meanwhile, it turns out that the fancy pants were stolen by Ruff’s archenemy, so they are then remotely destructed to cause the now-pantsless archenemy maximum embarrassment. This hits the right marks with respect to chapter length, print size, and goofy appeal to make transitional readers comfortable, and the familiar media face is likely to snag a broad audience. However, the science content is overplayed, being limited in actuality to a couple of facts tossed out by Blossom and the nicely designed activity about buoyancy in the end matter, and plot points stray willy-nilly. The highly saturated digital illustrations that closely follow the TV show’s animation style are also uneven, with some of them evincing interesting dimensionality, but others disappointingly flat and repetitive. There are likely to be kids who find Ruff in a patched-up pink cat costume an attention-grabber, though, and there’s a dearth of comical science books for this level, so this might see some play as a springboard to more in-depth scientific sleuthing for students looking for diversion more than experimentation. TA - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

School Library Journal - 06/01/2014 K-Gr 3—A "PBS KIDS" beginning chapter book with an engaging story told in four short chapters begins when the main character, Ruff Ruffman, game show host, receives an invitation from the crushworthy Charlene next door, to the Poodle Ball. The dress code on the invitation says "Fancy Pants," but Ruff is dismayed to find his closet is devoid of his pair of fancy pants. Then Ruff receives a fax that he is fired. Where are his fancy pants? Who sent the dreaded fax? The quest is on to find out! Emerging readers will enjoy humorous, cartoonlike illustrations as Ruff ponders what to do. The story line continues as Ruff finds a helpful cat named Blossom and the very small, drawn-to-size mouse, Chet. A quirky sense of humor and simple plot will appeal to most new readers and with timely subjects such as green energy, DIY, and self-destructing pants, it's a fun read. A science experiment that is easy and safe to do without parental help is included at the end of the book. This goofy book will be popular.—Ellie Lease, Harford County Public Library, MD - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.