Bound To Stay Bound

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 My aunt is a monster
 Author: Yee, Reimena

 Publisher:  RH Graphic (2022)

 Dewey: 741.5
 Classification: Nonfiction
 Physical Description: [330] p., col. ill., 21 cm

 BTSB No: 972730 ISBN: 9780593125465
 Ages: 8-12 Grades: 3-7

 Subjects:
 Graphic novels
 Blind -- Fiction
 Families -- Fiction
 Adventure fiction

Price: $19.78

Summary:
The reclusive Aunt Whimsy plans to stop an old rival from uncovering the truth that threatens her legacy and blind Safia finds herself experiencing an adventure and parts of the world she had only dreamed about. In graphic novel format.


Reviews:
   Kirkus Reviews (07/15/22)
   School Library Journal (09/09/22)
   Booklist (+) (09/15/22)
 The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/09/22)

Full Text Reviews:

School Library Journal - 09/09/2022 Gr 4 Up—A gleeful adventure, exceedingly colorful and humming with life, as much about the idea of exploring as about the journey itself. Yee's central hero is the young, blind, and bookish Safia, sent to live with her distant aunt after a fire at her parents' bookstore leaves her orphaned. Aunt Whimsy, unbeknownst to sightless Safia, is a world-famous explorer who has gone into hiding due to a condition that's left her with the appearance of a three-eyed, curly-horned, gray-furred goat-woman. After Safia settles in with a whimsical cast of characters at her aunt's expansive estate, a rival's taunt beckons Whimsy out of retirement, and the crew sets out on their next adventure—Safia's first. Along the way Safia forms a new friendship, suffers betrayals, and finds her own knack for adventure and bravery. While the relationship dynamics woven throughout the story are meaningful, Yee's real zest and passion is for the imaginative creatures and fanciful locales. Swirling emotions become lightning strikes of neon, flashbacks are displayed as magazine clippings and newspaper articles, and hand-drawn maps, doodled notes, and other paper ephemera abound. The cast is primarily women and nonbinary characters, and Safia and Aunt Whimsy are people of color with Arabic names. The apex of their adventures occurs in a location that seems to be influenced by Hindu and Tibetan legend. VERDICT A heartfelt, high-energy, richly inked caper with plenty of pauses for legend-building, and a multi-faceted, fun read.—Emilia Packard - Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 09/15/2022 *Starred Review* Safia is heartbroken when her parents die in a fire that also consumes their winsome bookstore, but she finds a hopeful new beginning when she’s sent to the home of her mysterious Aunt Whimsy. She is a retired explorer, who regales Safia with tales of her adventures and explains that, because of an unfortunate disfigurement, they can never leave their house. Safia, who’s blind, can’t see the truth: her aunt is literally a monster. Yee’s saturated, jewel-toned color palette is dreamy, and she cleverly uses page layouts to note shifts in elements of the story. Her figures, with touches of classic mid-twentieth-century illustration style, appear in a refreshing variety of skin tones and body sizes and shapes. That gorgeous artwork tidily carries the plot through, and the plot is packed. Whimsy’s nemesis announces their imminent archeological dig in the hidden city, where Whimsy was originally transformed, and Nanny (who, it turns out, is quite adept in her own right), a reluctant Whimsy, and Safia, delighted to finally be going on a real adventure of her own, embark on a quest to stop them and protect the city. Amplified by snippets of Whimsy’s tabloidesque magazine of odd sights and occurrences from around the world, lots of high jinks keep the pace up, but Yee (Seance Tea Party, 2020) keeps her characters solidly grounded with realistic emotional turns. A few tantalizing plot threads leave room for a sequel (fingers crossed). - Copyright 2022 Booklist.

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