Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 06/14/2024 PreS-Gr 2—In this charming and cumulative story, a young child who has brown skin seeks to find what has woken her in the middle of a seemingly silent summer night. After leaving her bedroom, the unnamed protagonist travels through the dark house, and passes her snoozing cat, who similarly wakes and follows her outside. Still trying to find the source of what stirred her, the child encounters a barking dog, silent rabbit, a rustling tree, moving air, and traveling cloud, all the while wondering what woke them from their slumber. As the child turns to go back to her room, the drowsy creatures all return to their dreams, before revealing the culprit: the bright and yellow moon. Hopkinson employs a winning combination of lilting, poetic second-person text filled with repetitive questions, while Pak's tranquil nocturnal spreads cleverly reveal the moon's responsibility throughout the story. Read with Natalie Ziarnik's A Lullaby of Summer Things or Stephen Savage's Moonlight for a perfect pairing of summer bedtime stories. VERDICT A sweet and serene seasonal story that will find a home in any collection.—Olivia Gorecke - Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 05/01/2024 Crafted in lovely second-person prose, this meditative bedtime story transports readers into a realm of ethereal tranquility reminiscent of comforting lullabies. The story is set against the backdrop of a young child's bedroom and then a starlit backyard, and the narrator invites you to explore the nocturnal habitat as a child wanders under the watchful gaze of the moon on a too-hot night. First, the narrator asks what's woken you; then they wonder the same of the cat, which the child encounters on the way toward the back door. Through the author's skillful use of language, readers are gently guided into a mindful observation of the natural world from the moment the child feels the dewy grass on their toes and continues as they take a moment at the garden patch. Along with the meditative language, the dusky purple backdrop to the scenes emphasizes the calm, quiet nighttime setting, which finds the child spreading arms wide as a scarecrow's and burying their feet in warm dirt before finally returning to bed. Quietly and calmly, this will resonate long after the final page. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.