Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 04/01/2025 Gr 1–4—At dawn, a girl joins her pá and má to tend their beloved farm on land that has been part of their family for generations. The girl notices the different animals and crops that exist in their land, but also the dryness and dying batch of vegetables. Sadness takes over the family as they see the impact of drought on their livelihood and the once fertile and verdant land. When the girl finds a horned toad, her family believes she is filled with luck, and the girl uses the opportunity to wish for rain and dreams for a land like it used to be. The illustrations and endpapers transport readers to the southwestern landscapes of the United States; the author's note enhances the story by connecting the girl's dreams with the ongoing struggles of climate change, environmental justice movements, and how natural disasters become human disasters. VERDICT A book that motivates young readers to learn more about tending the land, growing food, and the impact of human overdevelopment on the environment.—Sujei Lugo - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Other - 05/26/2025 Zea Kemp (Desert Song) and Espinosa (The World Belonged to Us) begin this somber picture book at sunrise, as Pá lines the Latinx-cued family’s boots up by the door. Though coffee burbles cozily in its pot, it becomes apparent that not all is well for the family, whose crops are beset by drought and more: "The tomatoes look withered on the vine. This is the second batch that hasn’t made it." When a horned toad startles the book’s dress-clad child protagonist outside, Pá explains that kissing the creature could grant a wish. Pencil and digital scenes alternate between a past landscape-"green as jewels. Fed by a cobalt river Pá swam in when he was a boy"-and the dry present-day terrain, about which the child’s parents worry. Understanding that "hope is not enough. What we need is magic," the child wishes upon another horned toad, dreaming "for the land and the world as it once was.... For the world as it could be." Landscape-focused illustrations showcase the arid conditions alongside the worried, strained look on the characters’ faces in this contemplative look at the real effect of a changing climate across three generations. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4-8. Author’s agent: Andrea Morrison, Writers House. Illustrator’s agent: Elizabeth Rudnick, Gillian MacKenzie Agency. (May) - Copyright 2025