Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 03/01/2019 A wide range of ponies and children, all adorable, appear together in a stable, outdoors in a paddock, in fields, on treks to town, and even in fantasy in this charmingly themed book of poems. Each scene features a jaunty poem—an assortment of rhymed and free verse offerings, and even some takeoffs on nursery rhymes like “Hickory Dickory Dock”—in which a child talks about his or her pony. Simple musings are intermixed with some surprises, as in “Kicking Kate,” which reveals that Kate doesn’t kick at all, and in “Princess,” which the pony itself narrates. Several poems are fantasies, including a boy’s dream about being a cowboy. The illustrations, done in watercolors and mixed media, carry the book with their charming pastel (and occasionally pastoral!) scenes and humorous details. The two-page spread in which a boy imagines himself a knight confronting a pot-bellied dragon is especially comic. The collection ends with a journey through rolling, quilt-like fields to home and sleep. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 04/01/2019 PreS-Gr 1-This unremarkable collection of poetry offers 16 sweet, slight verses about horses and the children who love them. Despite its rosy-hued cover, the interior avoids gender stereotypes by including boys and girls in the accompanying artwork; the children represented are also racially diverse. Unfortunately, there is not much to the poems, which range in length from four to eight lines and rely heavily on simple rhymes ("Bay horse, bay horse, / carry me to town. / You will get a carrot. / I will get a crown."). This brevity makes the collection suitable for reading aloud, and perhaps even for introducing very young readers to poetry, but it also results in poems that feel underdeveloped and uninspired: "Molasses and oats-- / oh, so sweet. / Come, little pony. / Come and eat." Rendered in watercolor and mixed media, the illustrations are warm and cheery, if a bit flat. VERDICT May appeal to young readers with a keen appreciation for horses, but unlikely to find a wider audience.-Lauren Strohecker, McKinley Elementary School, Elkins Park, PA - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.