Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 09/01/2011 *Starred Review* Written by the author of the Newbery Honor Book Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night (2010) and illustrated by the Caldecott Award winner of The House in the Night (2008), this unique picture book explores spirals in nature. Each new section of the precisely worded, free-verse text begins with the words “A spiral” and succinctly considers one facet of the shape as it is expressed in the natural world. “A spiral is a snuggling shape” begins the first section, illustrated with a cross-sectional view of a hillside with small animals curled up in their underground dens. Other sections present the spiral as “a strong shape,” “a clever shape,” and “a shape that reaches out.” The open-ended quality of the verse and the visual nature of the subject create plenty of opportunities for the art. The striking scratchboard illustrations use black lines, shapes, and crosshatched shading on white backgrounds to create strong compositions, while watercolor washes add subtle warmth and brilliance. Even the endpapers teem with spiral forms, such as curling fern heads, coiled snakes, a swirling galaxy, and the curving grasp of an elephant’s trunk. Two appended pages of notes expand on the book’s ideas. There are, of course, many school uses for this, but just reading it aloud at home will make the everyday fascinating. - Copyright 2011 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 09/01/2011 PreS-Gr 3—Concentrating on a single shape, this title is aimed at a slightly younger audience than Sidman's previous explorations of nature. The text considers various aspects of the shape, from snuggling animals curled in underground burrows to expanding rings of stars in a spiral galaxy. The shapes uncoil to reveal leafy fern fronds or clasp tightly like a spider monkey's tail around a branch. The observations, from a few words to a couple sentences, are tucked neatly into Krommes's gorgeous scratchboard spreads. Rich, deep colors enhance panoramas of marine creatures moving through curling ocean waves or a close-up view of dew glinting on the web of an orb spider. Plants and animals are labeled in small type, and more information about many of them is provided in the endnotes. However, even without the added details, the book will encourage youngsters to look for spirals in their own surroundings. Another first-rate volume from the author and illustrator of Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow (Houghton Harcourt, 2006)—Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 11/01/2011 Sidman turns her poetic talent to an introductory treatment of one of nature’s favorite shapes, the spiral. Spare, simple text, with a few words on each page, talks about the virtue of the spiral shape (“It fits neatly in small spaces . . . it is graceful and strong”) while the illustrations demonstrate various instances of spirals in nature. While the details of the shape’s benefits are mostly celebratory rather than informative, there’s more explanation in the end matter, and this is a thoughtful way to tickle youngsters into searching for this pattern in nature. The art of Beth Krommes, who worked with Sidman on Butterfly Eyes (BCCB 10/06), is particularly suited to the structural theme. Her scratchboard details have a crisp regularity and geometry that brings the dense illustrations crisp order and balance amid the dark intensity of the black background to the linework, while tasteful text tags identify some of the critters thickly populating the pictured land- and seascapes. Use this with Campbell’s Growing Patterns (BCCB 5/10) for an introduction to one of the world’s most effective shapes. A closing spread describes different kinds of spirals, drawing on the textual examples. DS - Copyright 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.