Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 10/01/2018 PreS-Gr 2—This clever book about friendship features two boys writing a book together. Though there are "five million" reasons why they are best friends, they only get to the top four—both yearn for a pet python, love jokes, and like dance parties and inventing new foods. "Here's another reason why we're best friends: We keep each other's secrets. Like how one time, Louie wet his pants after too much peanut butter toast milkshake." Louie is not very happy with his best friend for spilling that one. He retaliates by sharing a secret of Hector's, and suddenly, their book is re-purposed as the "Worst Friends in the Universe." Hurtful things are said, the book is canceled, and the friendship is over—or is it? The boys soon realize nothing is the same without a best bud. The childlike pencil and crayon illustrations, enhanced with Photoshop, are bold and full of humor, set against lined notebook paper. The two wide-eyed boys wear their emotions on their sleeves, and the text is entirely in large speech bubbles. This entertaining look at two besties who get in a fight and find their way to forgiveness will speak volumes to elementary school children without being didactic. VERDICT An important selection for all collections.—Barbara Auerbach, Cairo Public Library, NY - Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 10/15/2018 *Starred Review* In a free-form literary collaboration, two young enthusiasts make a picture book about their friendship. It's a project that requires multiple title page do-overs as the two record common likes, egg each other on, and then have a falling out when an accidental revelation from Hector that Louie wet his pants once, and Louie’s indignant riposte that Hector has a crush on a certain girl, escalates into a round of furious trash talk. Book cancelled, the two go off to sulk . . . only to discover that their pet fish have little interest in silly dance moves or jokes. Shrugging off the spat, the two BFFs slap hands, call for one more “Do-Over!” and, after a final title page, dance exuberantly off onto the endpapers. Pham illustrates their high-energy roller-coaster ride with appropriate vim, sending childlike crayon-and-marker drawings of African American Louis and Asian American (or plausibly Latino) Hector jigging and cartwheeling across ruled backgrounds, while slipping in more finished images of their faces or the occasional crayon-wielding hand coming in from the edge to give onlookers a sense of peering over their shoulders. Too soon for many readers, it’s: “Hey, our book is almost over!” “Yeah. . . but our friendship is NOT!” “HOORAY!” - Copyright 2018 Booklist.