Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 09/01/1999 K-Gr 3 David is back! In his very traditional school, he is expected to follow all the rules. He can't run in the halls, cut in line, call out, or swing his paintbrush around. Drawing on his desk is the final straw, and although minor punishments have already been given out, it's time for him to stay after school. In a punishment that fits the misdemeanor, he has to wash the desks. He does a stellar job and is rewarded with his teacher's words of praise. David is a lovable character whose emotions flow across his round face. With a minimum of lines, Shannon shows glee, sorrow, anxiety all of the familiar David emotions and those of the other students as well. On one double-page spread where David is looking out the window and letting his imagination roam, he is told to PAY ATTENTION! He is, of course, paying close attention to the clouds. Run out and get several copies of this high-spirited school story. Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. - Copyright 1999 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 01/01/2000 Those familiar with No, David (BCCB 9/98) will realize that David’s encounter with school will not be all gold stars and smiley faces. He starts off late (“David! You’re tardy!”), goofs off at the chalkboard (“Sit down, David!”), gazes out the window (“PAY ATTENTION, David!”), and eventually lands himself in after-school detention, wherein his desk-cleaning labors earn him teacherly approval. As in the previous book, David is clearly not a bad kid, just one who has difficulty reconciling his energetic impulses with the constraints of adult demands. The text (here childishly scrawled on scraps of penmanship-lined paper), which in most spreads is all we know of David’s teacher, operates largely as captions or punch lines for the illustrations, and the art is independently eloquent enough to carry the weight. Round-headed David has a surreal yet friendly and child-drawn look, with his grin of randomly placed teeth, his shiny face, and his round, sneakered feet. His antics such as his cheerful drum solo in the library—and especially his pleading cross-legged squirm as the teacher sighs, “Again?”—will be recognizable (and perhaps inspiring) to viewers, who are unlikely ever to say “No” to David. - Copyright 2000 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Booklist - 08/01/1999 *Starred Review* We know this kid by now. It wasn't just because of the award-winning No, David! (1998). We know this kid because he is our brother or our cousin or our best friend, or us. Now he has to fit his irrepressible exuberance--and his boyishly disgusting habits--into the classroom, with predictable results. Teacher's brief admonitions appear in careful printing on lined scraps from a school notebook; David is the snaggle-toothed, roundheaded kid. And he can't sit down, or come in from recess on time, or remember to raise his hand. When he chews gum, it's the biggest wad you've ever seen; when he isn't paying attention, it's because the clouds outside the classroom window are resolving themselves into dinosaurs and such. Shannon's picture-book-a-clef, with its acid colors and bold, flat planes, can be laugh-out-loud funny or catch-in-your-throat memorable. The spread in which a distressed David, knees locked together, raises his hand (the teacher's line: Again?!), or the penultimate image, where David gets a gold star for cleaning all the desks after school, are as emotionally resonant as can be. And we know David turned out all right, because he's making these books now. (Reviewed August 1999) - Copyright 1999 Booklist.