Bound To Stay Bound

Other - 12/02/2024 Nina always followed in the footsteps of her older sister Lily, until Lily died in an accident three years ago, leaving Nina alone with absent, grieving parents and unsympathetic friends. On the eve of her 13th birthday, Nina decides to spend five weeks of her summer in Paris with her aunt Renee, secretly working on Lily’s unfinished list of 13 things to do before turning 13 ("I have to finish/ what she started"). When she crosses off one of Lily’s uncompleted tasks, Nina is thrust into a magical, light-filled memory of a childhood fight with Lily. In Paris, Nina attends art classes where she meets-and crushes on-stylish peer Sylvie. As the summer progresses, Nina explores Paris with Sylvie, creates art, and visits memories of Lily, gradually working through her grief and forging a new path forward in a city where "old and new/ exist side by side." This delicate verse novel by Fussner (The Song of Us), enhanced by judiciously employed magical underpinnings in a vividly rendered setting, is a nuanced portrait of a tween stepping out of her sister’s shadow and coming into her own. Sylvie has brown skin; Nina reads as white. Ages 8-12. Agent: Eric Smith, P.S. Literary. (Mar.) - Copyright 2024

School Library Journal - 01/01/2025 Gr 4–7—Fussner's latest novel in verse takes readers to Paris, where Nina is visiting her aunt solo for the first time. Her older sister Lily died a year earlier, and Nina is determined to finish the "13 Before 13" list of things her sister wanted to accomplish before her 13th birthday. Nina will be celebrating her own 13th birthday on the day she leaves Paris; it seems like an excellent way to bring closure to Lily's last hopes, while also escaping parents who seem to have forgotten Nina exists since her sister's death. Middle grade readers who yearn to travel will appreciate the taste of a Parisian vacation, while those pondering the intricacies of a first crush will fall for Nina's blushing attraction to her assigned friend and guide, Sylvia. While the spare verse does not always explore Nina's feelings to the degree of angst and yearning this burgeoning relationship deserves, it is a sweet and earnest youthful romance that will allow readers to explore the complexities of moving from friend to romance, as well as talking to family members about a crush. Nina's grief is portrayed in sometimes awkward, possibly magical flashbacks that give a glimpse into the family's life when Lily was alive, and ultimately allow Nina to see that she needs to live on her own terms rather than try to emulate her older sister. VERDICT Recommended for middle grade collections where verse novels are popular.—Kate Olson - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.