Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 07/01/2014 Reformed robber and would-be cowboy Leroy Ninker (last seen in the Mercy Watson books) lassos his own series. Leroy spends his nights working the drive-in concession stand, dreaming of 10-gallon hats and western boots. Ticket seller Beatrice Leapaleoni convinces him to take fate in your hands and wrestle it to the ground, so he adopts a horse from Patty LeMarque. Patty’s instructions on Maybelline’s care are to the point: sweet-talk her, feed her a lot of grub, and never leave her alone. The first two instructions go well (Leroy spouts poeticals, and Maybelline loves his spaghetti), but his errand to fetch an umbrella takes longer than expected, and the horse wanders off. Predictably, she ends up at Deckawoo Drive for a happy reunion featuring familiar friends and a lot of buttered toast. DiCamillo’s use of inventive and colorful language and Van Dusen’s stylized gouache illustrations make this story click. Give this to graduates of the earlier series looking for a bit more of a challenge. - Copyright 2014 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 08/01/2014 K-Gr 2—Fans of Mercy Watson will delight in meeting Maybelline, a horse who loves to hear the melody of pretty words, likes the company of others, and enjoys spaghetti noodles. Leroy Ninker is a concession stand worker at the local drive-in movie theater with dreams of being a real-life cowboy. One day—"Yippie-i-oh"—he discovers a horse for sale. Leroy ends up choosing Maybelline for his mount. Adventure ensues as Leroy must learn how to ride her, find her food and shelter, and cure her fear of rain. Van Dusen's black-and-white cartoon pictures provide a lighthearted humor that makes the book a good choice for transitioning readers. Character driven, this fast-paced story is sure to please. A fun new edition to the cast and crew of "Mercy Watson" (Candlewick).—Melissa Smith, Royal Oak Public Library, MI - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2014 Pint-sized Leroy Ninker, previously appearing in Mercy Watson Fights Crime, dreams of riding off into the sunset like the silver screen cowboys he so admires, but he’s missing one key cowboy essential-a horse. Fortunately, his pal Beatrice knows just where to find one and soon Leroy has procured himself “the most beautified horse in the whole wide green world,” Maybelline. Maybelline, however, proves to be a very particular horse, one that expects to be blandished with purdy words at every turn, enjoys a fair amount of grub, and detests, absolutely detests, being left alone. Readers will have a hootenanny of a good time as this rookie cowboy learns to deal with these characteristics, and they’ll be especially pleased to find that the pair’s adventures (or misadventures) land them back on Deckawoo Drive meeting up with a few familiar faces from the Mercy Watson series, including that toast-loving pig. The text is lengthier here than in those books and the sentence structure more complicated, but there’s still the same skillful use of repetition, goofball humor, and easy accessibility. Mercy fans will be quick to cowboy up to this title. Final art not seen. KQG - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.