Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 02/01/2024 K-Gr 3—Lola is a girl who adores everything about school. Getting to school, however, is decidedly unenjoyable. Lola's walk is plagued by Tom the Troll. Tom torments the neighborhood children, holding up insulting signs and laughing as they hurry past. Despite trying her best to be brave, Lola takes Tom's taunts to heart. When he calls her feet smelly, she fills her shoes with cornstarch. When he makes fun of her hair, she ties it up tight. Lola becomes less and less herself until a kind bookstore owner intervenes, giving Lola the confidence to stand up to the troll. It turns out the troll is just the new kid on the block, seeking attention from the other children. A little lecture from Lola and the offer of friendship easily wraps everything up, making readers wonder what was so scary about the troll in the first place. The illustrations are adorable, but are discordant with and even struggle to depict the text. Tom may terrify Lola but his appearance is silly; and while much is made of Lola's wild curls, her hair appears straight on the pages. VERDICT An oversimplified take on trolls and incongruent illustrations keeps this from being a bully book worth purchasing.—Alia Shields - Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 02/15/2024 Author Schultz won the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary in 2005 for her advocacy of the underdog in her writing for Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer. Now, her debut children’s book represents child underdogs, the victims of bullying. Heroine Lola loves school, but she and the other kids dread the walk there and back because of one “scary, hairy” reason: Tom the Troll, a huge creature in a kind of scarecrow outfit who makes fun of the kids who walk (or run) past his house. The kids’ avoidance methods, showcased on two pages, are sometimes arduous, sometimes comical, and Lola is a special target of the bully, who creates signs just for her. The problem is that she buys into the taunts and chooses the worst avoidance tactic, changing herself to escape his criticisms. But when an adult convinces her to confront him, Lola learns the bully is far more frightened than she is. The illustrations, done with watercolor, ink, and colored paper, are filled with comic details, sure to keep readers engaged. Thought-and-action provoking. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.