Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 02/01/2024 Gr 3–7—Selena Lucy Landry (Lucy, for short) is full of imagination, wonder, and a taste for adventure—with one exception. After losing her father in a shipwreck, she has an overwhelming fear of the sea. This proves particularly difficult when she is sent to live with the Martins, a large Anishinaabe family of lighthouse keepers on a tiny island in Lake Superior. She arrives desperate to be loved but can never seem to say or do the right thing. Soon, however, a window of opportunity appears. The Martins live close to Mermaid's Corner, the site of a shipwreck her father often told her about. Can she find the ship's treasure that her father longed to discover? Will seeking it bring her closer to the Martin family, or is Lucy destined to not only be an orphan, but an outcast forever? Lucy has an enchantment reminiscent of Anne Shirley's, but Johnson adds so much depth to the 19th-century orphan story by weaving it with the girl's self-discovery as she connects more deeply with her Ojibwe heritage through her newfound foster family. There is also a nod to homeschooling as the Martins live far from school, and take pride in having their mother as a teacher. VERDICT Fans of L.M. Montgomery seeking diverse characters will rejoice at this heart-warming, feel-good adventure, as will families looking for books representing home learners.—Amira Walker - Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 02/15/2024 A precocious young orphan with a big imagination finds her life uprooted again when she moves to a lighthouse on Harmony Island in Lake Superior. This upper-elementary chapter book blends historical fiction, adventure, and a coming-of-age story, elements that compete with each other in the relatively short page count. As Lucy adapts to the Martin household, she must learn to overcome her “allergy” to the lake if she wants to complete her dead father’s mission of finding a missing necklace, and as the Martins share their culture with her, she's happy to forge a stronger connection to her own Ojibwe heritage. Lucy is bighearted but often too quick to act, which many young readers will likely relate to, even as she assumes different personas based on her emotional reactions in a given moment. While the story is quick to unfold, the pacing sometimes makes the story feel unfocused, and the historical fiction elements get overshadowed. All that said, there's still a lot of potential in the character of Lucy Landry, and young chapter-book readers who are more interested in character will appreciate this. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.