Bound To Stay Bound

Other - 02/03/2025 Kinkz (Pap?’s Magical Water-Jug Clock), making her solo debut with magnificently scrawled artwork, offers a story that blends deep empathy, raucous candor, and a useful ritual for dealing with shame. Early pages dub protagonist Izzy the "President of Mistakes," detailing a range of clumsy acts that leave her feeling like "chile con Ka-Ka." While making tortillas with her adoring Lito, she reveals a spectacularly embarrassing lunchroom blunder that involves inadvertently spitting out a mouthful of chicken nuggets, slipping onto a chocolate pudding cup, and getting a finger "caught up my nose." She wails, "NOW EVERYONE CALLS ME Chicken Lickin’ Puddin’ Pickin’!" Lito offers to eat Izzy’s mistakes-making a taco, he invites Izzy to whisper her gaffes into its queso-laden, frijole-fortified fillings, and then consumes it. Soon, the entire family embraces the healing properties of the "mistaco," sharing regrets as "the tortillas soaked up every juicy confession." Izzy comes away with a delicious way to self-forgive and face the day with hope and humor. Characters cue as Latinx. Back matter includes two short comics. Ages 4-8. Agent: Stephen Barr, Writers House. (Apr.) - Copyright 2025

School Library Journal - 07/25/2025 K-Gr 3—Part of the award-winning team behind Jesús Trejo's Papá's Magical Water-Jug Clock, Kinkz really lets loose in this one, and that's saying something. "Mistaco" is the new word for a mistake with tacos, and so, clued in by the subtitle—"A Tale of Tragedy y Tortillas"—readers will be braced to see what comes next. The story opens with lightning aimed at Izzy, who has had a terrible day at school. As the extended family of aunts and uncles, babies and siblings, parents and grandparents make tortillas, Izzy keeps her bad day to herself until it roars out of her like a confession. Lito tells her to put all her mistakes of the day into a taco, and he will eat it, trouncing its power over Izzy. That goes so well that soon the entire family offers up a litany of their own mistacos, all the while filling their bellies with warm food. As irreverent as a graphic novel and with the loose hand-drawn feel of Raúl the Third's illustrations, this lays out page after page of chaos that charms and inspires chuckles at the same time. The skin colors, the proportion of the faces to bodies, the age range of the members of Izzy's crew—all add up to an authentically loving Latinx family setting; the storytelling is wry, occasionally sarcastic in a child-friendly way, and moves at a clipped pace. The theatricality of every scene will invite readers closer into the pages till they've found every burp, fart, and poop joke, and terrific asides from supporting players. VERDICT There are no mistakes in these pages, just an SEL lesson writ large, delivered with perfect comic timing. A must.—Kimberly Olson Fakih - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.