Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 03/15/2020 Inexperienced but determined to excel at building sand castles on the beach, Jules lugs two bucketloads of sand to the water’s edge, dumps them upside down, and calls her big sister over to admire her castle. “SLOSH!” A wave washes it away. Wondering if the ocean is hostile, Jules tries again. “SLAP!” Now a wave takes her castle and her bucket. It even buries her feet in wet sand. The ocean doesn’t do such things on purpose, Jules’ sister explains, helping Jules build an enormous castle farther from the waves, which gradually creep up until . . . “CRASH!” A wave levels their creation but returns the bucket. The girls high-five, calling the deluge “MOST EXCELLENT!” Within a seemingly simple story, this book takes its main character through a wide-ranging sequence of emotions. The clear, natural-sounding text reads aloud well, and large-type words and capitalization indicate which words to emphasize. In the digital artwork, the rounded lines and harmonious colors set a pleasing tone while depicting the characters expressively. This sunny picture book recreates a child’s memorable encounter with nature. - Copyright 2020 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 04/01/2020 K-Gr 2—Sima revels in a Miami-inspired palette full of tans, pinks, and turquoise in this ode to sisterhood and the beach. Jules, who has brown hair and a sharp bob, yearns to build a "most excellent" sandcastle, one to catch the eye of her bodyboarding older sister, but the waves keep destroying her creations. The text conveys Jules's frustration, but the illustrations do not render the ocean a particularly dynamic nemesis. Sima relegates the frothy water to the edges of her beachy scenes, refocusing the central tension from a tussle between Jules and the ocean to the girl's battle with her own expectations. Some readers may find Jules's aggravation misplaced—why not build further away from the surf?—but others will sympathize with her determination and desire to impress her sister. Near the end, the siblings join forces to celebrate the power of the ocean, and a verbal refrain from the beginning returns, which makes the subsequent six pages feel slack and unnecessary, notwithstanding the beauty of Sima's beachy sunset. VERDICT Sima's visual style radiates her usual appeal, but a lack of focus in both text and illustrations threatens to wash this story out.—Robbin E. Friedman, Chappaqua Library, NY - Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 03/15/2020 - Copyright 2020 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 04/01/2020 - Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.