Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 05/01/2024 *Starred Review* “Ursula was one happy catfish, swimming through the world.” With lush river weeds waving above her and “scrumptious buggy buffets” in the blue skies beneath her water, round and rosy Ursula is as content as a catfish can be. All is well until another fish questions Ursula’s swimming style, “and just like that, her whole world flipped.” As in the Caldecott Honor–winning Mel Fell (2021) and again with Simon and the Better Bone (2023), Tabor’s inventively formatted storytelling technique employs a dash of drama and turns a fresh tale on its head. Here, readers are instructed, complete with arrows, to “turn the book!” as curved text ingeniously transitions to reflect Ursula’s now-shifted view, stylistically reminiscent of Dan Santat's Are We There Yet? (2016). Flopping from water to shore, she awakens a kindly bat, Vern, who flaps from a tree limb (where he hangs upside down, naturally) to Ursula’s rescue. Tabor’s luminous mixed-media landscapes in a pastel palette meld beautifully with the increasingly emphatic text to convey Ursula’s emotional journey. Tabor gently reframes questions of perspective as Vern and fellow dangling forest dwellers reassure readers, through Ursula, about their own special ways of viewing the world. Pragmatists will appreciate a note identifying Ursula as an upside-down catfish specific to the Congo River basin in Africa. This clever and heartfelt picture book will wow at storytimes. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.