Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 01/01/2026 PreS-Gr 3—A delightfully silly look into a world where everything has a mustache. Beginning at the title page, readers follow a moose and a mouse from one mustachioed scene to the next, until the book is so full of mustaches that they decide to go somewhere else. Reminiscent of Bruce Degen's Jamberry, the text consists mostly of familiar words with the suffix "stache" attached. Illustrations are done in "pencils and pens and whatever else happened to be right under the artist's nose." They are integral to understanding the story and carry much of the humor, showing the impact of the mustache on the moose and mouse. With a light, but colorful watercolor look and relaxed line work, the pictures create something of an I Spy game for readers, who will try to locate all the mustaches on each page. VERDICT A fun addition to any humor collection. This is great for a lap sit, or for use in small groups.—Virginia Pine - Copyright 2026 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Publishers Weekly - 01/19/2026 All the world’s a ’stache in this enthusiastic follicular fantasy from Watkins (Go-Go Guys), who sprouts mustaches on absolutely everything. A genteel mouse and moose with pert mustaches open, asking, "How do you DO-stache?" And subsequent pages prove that the bristles’ tickling transformation is not beyond the reach of any thing or being. A residence grows a housetache, "frockstaches" appear on clothing, timepieces sport "grandfather clockstaches," and "migrating flockstaches" positively ripple across avian wingspans. As readers are drawn into the work’s escalating energy, one spread features a passel of mustachioed bananas and pineapples kicking up heels ("dancing in bootstaches,/ Some strumming lutestaches"). Throughout, soft-toned pencil and pen illustrations maintain a poker-faced matter-of-factness, even at peak absurdity ("Peppermint planestaches/ Daydreaming brainstaches"). But somehow, each mustache is as ennobling as it is surprising, bestowing creatures and inanimate objects alike with implied inner lives and, above all, a goofy but unmistakable dignity. In a world that frequently insists on conformity, this hair-raising work insists on letting one’s ’stache fly. Ages 4-8. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary. (Apr.) - Copyright 2026 Publishers Weekly used with permission.

Booklist - 04/01/2026 In this quirky and amusing contribution to children’s literature about facial hair, mustaches appear everywhere, in the most unlikely places and on the most implausible faces. The book begins with a mouse and a moose in a rowboat surrounded by (believe it or not) mustaches floating on top of the water. Cut to the next illustration, which reveals the two friends admiring each other’s newly acquired mustache. Everybody and everything wears a mustache here, including trains, planes, fruits, and root vegetables, to name a few. Pen and pencil “and whatever else happened to be right under the artist’s nose” are a joy to study in the illustrations. Using rhyming couplets, Watkins offers delightful wordplay: “Blimpstaches. Goatstaches. Shrimpstaches. Boatstaches.” Each word has a humorous picture showcasing the ridiculousness of each mustachioed object; even the raindrops on the endpapers sport mustaches. The numerous colorful illustrations are entertaining—especially birds with mustaches—and youngsters as well as their adults will get a kick out of the many unexpected locations of the hairy adornment. - Copyright 2026 Booklist.