Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 12/15/2012 *Starred Review* When Jack Baker’s mother dies, his father deposits him in the Morton Hill Academy for Boys in Maine, far from the only home he has ever known—Kansas. Alone and lonely, Jack befriends Early Auden, a strange, legendary boy who understands all manner of unknowable things, from the necessity of listening to Billie Holiday on rainy days to the secrets embedded in patterns of jelly beans. Most important, Early believes the unwinding digits in the calculation of pi hold a connection to his revered older brother, lost in the war. Jack and Early set out on a mysterious journey, following Pi’s story, tracking a great black bear along the Appalachian Trail, and searching for reconciliation neither knows he seeks. Along the way, they encounter a collection of characters, all of them wound up in Early’s eerily prescient Pi yarn. Newbery Medal–winning author Vanderpool’s sharp, honest narrative, sparkling with the stars of the night sky, pieces together an elaborate, layered plot with precision, weaving multiple threads into a careful, tidy conclusion perfectly suited for those, like Jack and Early, who want to believe. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Vanderpool took home the big Newbery prize for Moon Over Manifest (2010), making this publication—which includes a national author tour—a publishing event. - Copyright 2012 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 03/01/2013 With World War II finally over, young Jack Baker is forced to move from Kansas to a private boys school in Maine, where he will be closer to the naval base of his captain father. Landlubber Jack knows nothing of the sea-oriented culture of his new environs, and his first attempts at handling a boat are pitiful indeed. Early Auden, the school’s math savant and oddball recluse, takes Jack under his wing. Jack isn’t very good at returning the eccentric boy’s friendship, though, and it’s largely out of guilt that he agrees to accompany Early on a hike along the Appalachian Trail in search of Early’s brother Fish, a past school hero who is presumed to have been killed in the war. Early sets their course by constantly referring to an ongoing story about a hero’s quest for a great black bear, and by consulting the patterns and colors he discerns in the extended digits of pi. As the journey unfolds, their adventures and perils seem to mirror the story, and Jack is never certain whether metaphysical forces are at play or if Early is so desperate to find his brother that he makes up pieces of the story to reflect reality. This story of a poignant friendship of two heartbroken boys shifts quickly among genres, beginning with a fairly routine problem-novel trajectory and then moving into territory more often claimed by high fantasy quests, heroic epics, wilderness adventures, and even mysteries. The incorporation of these familiar tropes give the book broad and fascinating appeal, and those that trust Early—and Vanderpool—to lead them through the treacherous woods will be pondering and debating the surreal experience for some time to come. EB - Copyright 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

School Library Journal - 03/01/2013 Gr 6–9—When Jack's mother passes away, his military father returns home to pack him up and ship him off to boarding school in Maine. Wading through the emotional trauma of grief and trying to adjust to his new surroundings, Jack feels that he doesn't really fit in anywhere. It is not until he befriends the school's resident outsider that he finds someone who might be able to help him navigate the troubled waters of his future. Early's older brother, Fisher, is a school legend, and the boy refuses to believe that he perished in the war. He sees numbers as having colors and narratives and believes that the story of Pi is also the story that will lead his brother home. Early sets off on an epic quest to find the Great Bear that has been ravaging the countryside as he believes it will lead him to Fisher. When Jack teams up with Early to find a bear, a brother, and an unending number, both boys finally find their way back home. Set just after World War II, this novel, like Vanderpool's Moon Over Manifest (Delacorte, 2010), once again meticulously blends an intricately plotted and layered story line with a fully realized historical backdrop. Interesting characters meander through the boys' adventure, fitting themselves into the pieces of their story as it begins to weave together. Readers will find themselves richly rewarded by this satisfying tale.—Jessica Miller, New Britain Public Library, CT - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

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