Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 11/01/2023 PreS-Gr 3—Kayla and Mateo live in different apartment buildings, but their windows are directly across from each other. One day, when they are both bored, they find that there is a clothesline on a pulley that will allow them to send things to each other. They both like drawing, so they start creating adventures together on paper. When the handyman in the building takes down the clothesline, the kids have to figure out a new way to share ideas. This is an inventive story about how working together is better than working alone. The artwork, a combination of cut-paper with markers or crayon drawings, is wonderfully effective—the cut-paper is vibrant and full, while the drawings, with an unfinished childlike feel, perfectly convey that this is the adventure that Kayla and Mateo are sharing. In addition to enjoying the story on its merits, readers will be inspired to create adventures of their own. VERDICT A terrific, imaginative piece of make-believe, perfect for a library read-aloud with excellent opportunities for extending the story.—Debbie Tanner - Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 01/17/2024 This is the sweet story of Kayla and Mateo, children who live in neighboring apartment buildings and form a short-distance friendship via a squeaky clothesline. After exchanging spoken greetings (“Hi!” from Kayla, “¡Hola!” from Mateo), they begin to pass each other messages, drawings, and even snacks by clipping them to the old pulley clothesline strung between their windows. This literal connection allows their imaginations to take flight and personal relationship to grow, as they create new types of dinosaurs and embark on fantastic adventures together. When the clothesline is taken down for repair, the children must move their friendship into the wider world of their city neighborhood, where they create chalk works of art that bring together their community. Childlike marker drawings in green and purple bring the characters’ imaginings to life, and these scenes mingle with more realistic collage elements that depict the vibrancy of the “real world.” A feast for the eyes and imagination that blends Violet and Victor Write the Best-Ever Bookworm Book (2014), by Alice Kuipers, and Windows (2017), by Julia Denos. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.