Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 10/01/2008 Gr 1-5-An urban African-American boy transcends the loss of loved ones with help from a caring elderly mentor and from the sustaining ability to create art. Bird looks back and remembers his once-admired older brother Marcus's slow descent into drug addiction, expulsion from the family home, and ultimate death-a death that ostensibly led to the decline and death of his beloved grandfather as well. Wise Uncle Son picks up where Granddad leaves off and becomes the steadying and inspiring influence in Bird's life as he learns not only the hard lesson that, "You can't fix a broken soul," but also to look to the future with confidence. Despite the plainspoken, accessible language, the author's flashback structure may not be as successful with this audience as a more linear story arc. The illustrations, rendered with a delicate touch in watercolor, gouache, charcoal, and pen, emphasize the textual theme of resilience in adversity, even while Marcus's appearances are often shrouded in a palette of grays. Bird's own pencil drawings of city life and the repetition of Marcus's symbolic bright cap add interest and meaning to the visual narrative. From a first-time author and illustrator comes a sad truth of contemporary life successfully leavened with hopeful optimism.-Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Old Greenwich, CT Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information. - Copyright 2008 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 11/01/2008 Our narrator, Bird (his nickname), likes to draw the birds outside his city window and to hang out with his grandfather’s friend, Uncle Son, despite some recent losses. As the narrative progresses, it becomes clear that though the first mentioned loss is that of Bird’s beloved grandfather, the more devastating bereavement comes from the slow slide of Bird’s older brother, Marcus, into drug addiction, crime, and finally death. Bird’s narration is gently matter of fact, and the episodic portrait of his beloved brother’s decline is touching yet accessibly concrete; though the book’s elliptical treatment of events such as Marcus’ actual death keeps the text out of reach of some younger audiences, the story directly addresses the situation at their level (“Papa told me that if Marcus came by, I wasn’t allowed to let him in. That didn’t make sense to me”), describing the changes in the family even as it’s clear that there’s a solid family structure surviving the tragedy. The illustrations balance believably between charcoal and pen sketches, often representing Bird’s own artwork, and watercolor and gouache; precise, detailed draftsmanship grounds the luminous portraiture, while the drawings are credible as those of a genuinely talented kid. The book’s messages—that a brother who destroys himself can still love his younger sibling, and that Bird can remember his brother and still look hopefully to his own future—are lightly handled, and they’ll reassure many youngsters whose worshipped older siblings have feet of clay. DS - Copyright 2008 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Booklist - 11/01/2008 In this beautiful picture book for older readers, Elliott and Strickland tell a moving story in spare free verse and clear mixed-media pictures of an African American boy who loves to draw. At first Bird’s mentor is his older brother, Marcus, a graffiti artist. Then Marcus becomes a junkie who is eventually kicked out of their home. Drug use among family members is a reality for some young people, but it is rare to find books for the age group that reflect that experience. Marcus’ need for “a fix” and his eventual death are both handled with subtlety: “Marcus never got better. After the funeral, Granddad went to bed.” Bird’s elderly friend, Uncle Son, keeps the young artist strong and tells him a story from slavery times of the people in chains who could fly when their spirits broke free. The spacious scenes of the boy beneath birds soaring high above the city streets echoes what Bird discovers: that art can inspire, comfort, and elevate. Pair this with Virginia Hamilton’s The People Could Fly (1985). - Copyright 2008 Booklist.

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