Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 08/01/2024 In this charming picture book, Higgins uses free verse and colorful illustrations to take young readers on a joyful journey through the seasons and months of the year. The brief text is full of strategically placed rhyme, repetition, and other wordplay. The illustrations incorporate elements of both collage and drawings to depict active children and sometimes animals as well. The words and pictures tend to focus on weather, food, and feelings; for example, the verses for May are “maybe hazy / maybe hot / maybe chilly / maybe not” and “muddy puddles / messy play / many seeds / will sprout in / may.” Then “all / the days / feel like / the longest / icky / sticky / awful / hottest / nothing left / to do in / august // . . . it’s your birthday? / oops, I’m wrongest.” Other than that one birthday, Higgins avoids mentioning holidays, although October does nod to Halloween, with a picture of costumed children and the verse “floaty ghosties / witch-in-cloaksies / croaking frog.” A playful home or classroom read-aloud about the months of the year. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.