Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 01/01/2013 K-Gr 1—Once the fastest little yellow taxi in town, Jack, who now has older, slower wheels, is sent airborne as he literally flies off a city bridge in response to a travel poster-"Come to Brazil!"-landing in a tropical forest surrounded by colorful parrots and howler monkeys. Jack is a fun-loving, coconut-ball player and immediately hits it off with his newfound simian friends. A chameleon playfully imitates the cab with his own checkered and yellow form, but powerful giant excavators frighten the animals and dwarf Jack, hiding in the deep blues and greens of the rainforest. Pfister's watery, painted impression of the trees and brightly blocked contrasting yellows of the construction behemoths direct readers' eyes from cityscape to forest-and back again-as Jack suggests a city cab's alternative to "tearing up the forest." While support for the environment comes across loud and clear, images of Jack's digging-equipment acquaintances lack the personality or warmth of his tropical animal friends. An additional purchase.—Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 03/15/2013 Woozy from bus fumes, Jack, a city cab, suddenly finds himself in a rain forest, which he contrives to save by persuading the similarly yellow machines that are knocking down the trees to spare the animals and take up urban construction work instead. Pfister illustrates this worthy, if unlikely, scenario with roughly rubbed, low-contrast scenes of the driverless taxi surrounded by generic high rises and later riding in an equally generic rain forest filled with colorful birds and New World howler monkeys, watched by a lone Old World chameleon. The cab then leads a long caravan of diggers and dump trucks (and logging trucks, which quietly vanish somewhere along the way) back to civilization. Was it a dream? Probably—but what about that coconut in the backseat? As usual from Pfister, a simple message conveyed in a simple way. - Copyright 2013 Booklist.