Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 06/01/2013 K-Gr 2—Playing alone in his room, Niño dons his Lucha Libre mask and lets his imagination take flight. (According to an endnote, Lucha Libre is a dramatic form of professional wrestling followed by fans in Mexico.) The young hero is then ready to take on an eclectic cast of monstrous opponents. Spurred on by chanting crowds, the boy handily defeats the Guanajuato Mummy (La Momia de Guanajuato), Olmec Head (Cabeza Olmeca), and the Weeping Woman (La Llorona), using a variety of clever strategies. Next up is El Extraterrestre and then El Chamuco. Niño remains undefeated until the dreadful hour arrives. Nap time is over and his baby sisters are ready to wrestle. Las Hermanitas will stop at nothing, and Niño soon realizes that it is better to join forces with them. Together, the siblings form a tag team, challenging all contenders. The fast-paced narrative is sprinkled with Spanish vocabulary and accompanied by energetic and vivid illustrations adorned with stars and rays of light that bring to mind stylishly designed event posters. In comic-book fashion, the bold portrayal of each match includes dialogue bubbles and sound effects printed in decorative fonts ("whunk," "bloop," "krunch"). The endpapers feature amusing profiles of the competitors. Captivated youngsters will cheer for Niño as he takes on each opponent in this action-packed story.—Linda L. Walkins, Saint Joseph Preparatory High School, Boston, MA - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 07/01/2013 Senoritas y señors! In this corner of the playroom, we have an energetic little boy whose traditional, outlandish Mexican luchadore wrestling costume consists of a pair of underwear and a bright red lucha libre mask. And in the opposite corner, an assortment of “out-of-this-world contenders” ready to take our brave Niño down. Introduced via fact boxes on the endpapers, the villains are an intimidating bunch, but Niño prevails over each thanks to one of his signature moves: the Guanajuato Mummy (the Tickle Tackle!), Olmec Head (the Puzzle Muzzle!), the Weeping Woman (the Doll Decoy!), and so forth. Each single-spread bout is announced by a title card in Spanish and features a plethora of nonsensical action words to go along with Niño’s attacks: zok, slish, bloop, spak, and so on. Morales’ illustrations have just enough competing font styles and explosive-looking backgrounds to conjure the feel of an authentic lucha libre poster, and kids with multicultural classmates will recognize (or learn) Niño’s many Spanish exclamations. A closing note explains the lucha libre culture. Zzzwap! - Copyright 2013 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2013 Are you a monster? If you are, then you’d better watch out for Niño (short guy, yellow sneakers, blue-trimmed tighty-whities, wiry limbs, and lips set in stern determination beneath his fiery red lucha libre mask). He’s got a room full of toys and some slick wrestling moves, and he’s not afraid to use ’em on rudos like you—just ask the vanquished villains of Mexican lore who’ve made the sorry mistake of taking him on. First there’s La Momia de Guanajuato, disinterred from a grave in 1865, and now reduced to a giggling wreck by Niño’s Tickle Tackle. Next up: Niño vs. Cabeza Olmeca, the giant stone head from ancient Olmec civilization. He’s taken out by a flying leap off a jigsaw-puzzle box, followed by a vicious head butt. La Llorona, legendary ghost wailing for her murdered children in the night, is stunned into submission by Niño’s clever Decoy Doll trick. El Extraterrestra, just landed from his space ship, can’t defend against the Marble Mash, and even El Chamuco, the devil himself, gets knocked right off his cloven hoofs when he slips on Niño’s scooter ramp glazed with the ever-effective Popsicle Slick. Is there anything that Niño fears? Yes! In dismay, he watches the clock tick to 11:15: “His sisters’ nap is over. Time for Nino to tangle with LAS HERMANITAS!” The merciless little rudas pounce and tickle and even attempt to (gasp!) unmask Niño, who narrowly escapes defeat by joining them to form a new team: Los Tres Hermanos. Morales isn’t the first and won’t be the last to riff on a child immersed in his own imaginary heroism, only to crash back to earth when family life intervenes. She is, however, extraordinarily adept at balancing the rough-and-tumble physicality of Niño the Luchador—whose adversaries may be all in his mind, while his mess is all over the house—with the merriment and self-restraint of Niño the Genuinely Wonderful Big Brother, who actually enjoys humoring his adoring younger siblings. The tenderness of the final scene flows organically from the lucha libre plot and plays out on kid terms, with Niño triumphantly winging his delighted new tag teamers up in the air. No adult voice commends Niño for playing nicely with his sisters, just as no adult voice warns him not to yank their arms out of their sockets. The audience will recognize a good brother when they see one, though, and these sturdy little gals certainly don’t require intervention. Most kids will agree, though, that drawing Niño’s nemeses from the realms of history and folklore and setting them loose in the arena of lucha libre is Morales’ real master stroke. Combining the explosive action of comic book splash pages with the bold outlining and vibrant colors of lucha libre poster art, Morales’ illustrations quote their traditional cultural sources as confidently as her text and layout mine contemporary wrestling ballyhoo. Niño’s opponents are, in their traditional forms, truly the stuff of nightmares (don’t skip the background insets on the endpapers for additional detail), and even the noblest lucha tecnico can be pretty intimidating. Morales, though, renders them all just creepy enough for shivers yet goofy enough for giggles. El Chamuco would be terrifying with his yellow eyes and serrated teeth, but it’s hard to take him seriously with a popsicle in one hand and a Lego block in the other; Cabeza Olmeca likewise seems alarming, until one notices that he has the same nose and mouth as good-guy Niño. Although the text is presented in English, Morales clearly expects that kids will move easily among English and Spanish terms. All the rudos’ names and a fair amount of background banter is in Spanish, some of which is translated within the text, while some is left for listeners to recognize, figure out, gloss over, or save for later. (Do “Whunk,” “Zzzwap,” and “¡Ay, ay, ay, ajua!” really require translation?) What’s at issue here transcends language and culture: there are things hair-raising enough to scare the bejeezus out of a kid, and it’s good to know that there’s a pint-sized luchador out there to tame them. (See p. 42 for publication information.) Elizabeth Bush, Reviewer - Copyright 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

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