Bound To Stay Bound

Other - 01/20/2025 In an almost empty attic, a budding cartographer sits at a desk, creating an atlas for an unknown recipient. The resultant maps’ first-person annotations are reportorial in style, and it’s quickly apparent that the places and spaces, drawn by Eaton (Looking for Peppermint) in colored pencil, pen, and watercolor, portray a beloved personal geography. A bird’s-eye view of the mapmaker’s town envisions orange groves that "smell like fresh-squeezed juice and honey." Another page depicts a bustling backyard farm, noting which hens lay what color eggs. Aisles are lovingly labeled in a view of the local art supply store, where "I used up my allowance for tape, paper, pencils, and pens in cobalt blue." The painstaking accumulation of detail takes on a subtle poignancy: as pages turn, readers learn about the mapmaker’s friends and mentors, favorite foods, and sense of place. The final pages reveal that the young creator is relocating, and the "you" in the title refers to the attic’s next occupant, transforming the story by Heuer (the Teeny Tiendas series) into a meditation on what makes up both a home and a generous spirit. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4-8. Author’s agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary. (Mar.) - Copyright 2025

School Library Journal - 04/18/2025 PreS-Gr 3—In an homage to his town, a young boy creates maps for his home's new occupants in a wistful book about moving. The boy annotates his maps of the town with notes about the stores, neighborhood quirks (the middle swing at the playground goes the highest!), and its people. His maps are found by the homes' newest and youngest occupant with wishes they will help her find her way. Illustrations are done with a soft palette using watercolor and pen. Readers will enjoy poring over the detailed maps, discovering new surprises with each reading. Some maps are overhead, and others show layouts of important places such as the child's room where he gives instructions on how to position the bed to get the best use of the skylight, or the library where he shares the clever reading nooks and personable librarian. Despite an overwhelming sense of melancholy (it's clear the mapmaker will miss their old home and community), the wish to help the new occupants love their town as he does is heartwarming and effectively upbeat. VERDICT For all collections, this lovely book will translate to lessons on a sense of place, love of community and, of course, mapmaking.—Melisa Bailey - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.