Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 08/01/2015 Gr 7–10—"A few weeks past my sixteenth birthday, my dad threw me off a boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean." So begins a fast-paced autobiography of a young man who would eventually become a U.S. Navy SEAL. A product of a dysfunctional family (his parents had a difficult marriage, and his father was physically abusive), Webb tells his life's story. His parents kept their often-rambunctious son out of trouble by encouraging him to get involved with athletics. That came to an abrupt end when the boy was diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatter disease, which is caused by overtraining, resulting in a painful lump below the kneecap. Braces were put on his knees in order to give them a chance to grow properly. By age 13, Webb was working on a dive boat. A chance encounter with a group of SEALs who visited the boat turned his life around and gave him a new goal. The rest of the book is a description of the experiences he had on his way to successfully realizing that dream: he became a SEAL and even became an instructor for other SEALs in training. This engaging narrative is informative and will speak to teens. VERDICT A fine choice for memoir collections.—Eldon Younce, Anthony Public Library, KS - Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 09/15/2015 U.S. Navy SEAL Webb’s memoir is timed well with the success of the recent movie American Sniper—as head sniper instructor, Webb trained Chris Kyle. In economic prose, with the help of coauthor Mann, Webb details his journey from a high-energy kid forced to move from place to place in his formative years to an elite sniper. More than half the book is devoted to the journey, which is not surprising, considering the intensity that leads to such high attrition rate. Upon becoming a Navy SEAL, Webb is selected for sniper training and faces combat tours in Afghanistan, not long after 9/11. He goes on to redesign the sniper curriculum, to great success. Though at a few points the level of detail may get too specific for the average lay reader, overall, Webb’s story makes for a breathless read for the many who will never encounter anything remotely as mentally and physically challenging as the endless training exercises to make it into the SEAL teams. - Copyright 2015 Booklist.