Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 08/01/2018 This concise tale opens as an unidentifiable creature sorrowfully admits to having eaten his friend. No matter—he approaches a sequence of other, mostly unidentifiable creatures in search of a new friend. The others reject him for being, in succession, too big, too small, too scary, too slow. He moves on quickly, especially after one creature bares a large mouth of teeth. Eventually, he finds a suitable friend—one who closely resembles him—only to be eaten himself. At first glance, the minimalism coupled with the spare style of the artwork and the distinctive brand of dark humor might cause one to mistake this for a work by Jon Klassen. However, debut author-illustrator McKinnon's richly colored characters pop out from the stark, lightly speckled black backgrounds, lending them a quality both unique and appealing. A book about devouring and being devoured could terrify, but here the characters—even the toothier fellows—are more cuddly than fearsome, so the humor shines through. This will surely illicit reactions from the intended audience about the proper treatment of friends. - Copyright 2018 Booklist.