Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 06/01/2024 *Starred Review* The Dictionary is envious of other books. While she is full of words, she does not have her own story to tell––until the day she decides to bring her words to life. A hungry alligator moves off his page and travels toward D, drawn by the smell of Donut. More illustrated versions of words leave their pages behind as Cloud, Ghost, Moon, and others engage in a chase from A to Z. This marvelously creative endeavor plays out in unexpected ways. At first, the pages may appear to represent a typical dictionary, but look more closely. There are words in bold print, followed by pronunciations and accurate definitions. The text then goes further by including a funny secondary reference, for example “tall: Above the average height. Which can get quite complicated because a tall turkey is tiny in comparison to a tiny tiger, and a tall tiger is tiny compared to Thailand.” Multimedia illustrations incorporate handmade books, photography, and painting. As in Jeffers' and Winston’s earlier collaboration, A Child of Books (2016), words on the page break apart, move, and rearrange themselves to become significant elements of the pictures. This is equally successful on varying levels: a young child would enjoy the humor of the characters’ adventures, while older readers and adults can delve into the rich details of the dictionary pages themselves. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.