Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 12/01/2015 A petite blond girl and a hulking gorilla might seem like an unlikely pair, but they are best friends in this quirky account of an outing to the park. When the two crash their bicycle, they have to find another method of transportation. At first, it seems like nothing will pan out—skipping hopscotch, jumping rope, wishing, riding an elephant, and flying a kite all fail—but they’ve been walking while they think, and suddenly, there they are at the park’s entrance! The brief text, largely made up of the dialogue between the two characters, is matched with retro-style digital illustrations that highlight the relationship between the two as well as their differences: the girl is displayed as self-assured and in charge, while the gorilla, at times, lets the situation get the better of him. After they partake in a bevy of familiar activities at the park, it is time for the two to go home. How will they get there? There’s a story for another day . . . or, perhaps, another book. - Copyright 2015 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 02/01/2016 PreS-Gr 1—Girl and Gorilla are friends on a mission to get to the city park. Dramatic and exuberant Gorilla thinks up creative, if a bit ditzy, methods to travel. Some of these methods involve hopscotching, riding elephants, and using his tail to jump rope to the park. Girl has a level head on her shoulders and reminds Gorilla that he doesn't have a tail. So, they walk and think, until—voila!—they arrive at their destination in no time at all. While at the park, Girl and Gorilla do all the activities they thought about doing to travel to the park. When it is time to go home, the silliness begins again, bringing the story full circle. Illustrations, dominated by blue, orange, yellow, and red, contain just enough city detail to portray a contemporary urban setting. Cartoonish Gorilla wears bright red trunks and a yellow banana shirt, sure to make kids smile. VERDICT Walton has created another lovely book to share aloud and encourage children to use their imaginations and think outside the box, just like Gorilla.—Mindy Whipple, West Jordan Library, UT - Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 04/01/2016 Girl and Gorilla are best friends, and they’re going off to the park to play. But, after Girl crashes her bike, how will they get there? Gorilla is awash in suggestions: “We can hopscotch to the park!” (Except after “sky blue” Gorilla is hopping in the wrong direction.) “We can jump rope to the park!” (They don’t have a jump rope.) “We could use my tail!” says Gorilla. “You don’t have a tail,” points out Girl. They “walk and think,” pondering their dilemma, and just as a dejected Gorilla is sure there’s no way to get to the promised parkland, they’re there. The friendship here is tender as well as funny; Girl is a Christopher Robin figure to the exuberant Gorilla, with her sure-to-be-reasonable suggestions getting cut off and her patient reminders that Gorilla has no tail becoming a humorous motif. Inky-black linework gives body to the digital illustrations, which focus on only a few sunny colors per page; Girl is all trim, composed serenity, her long blonde locks barely ruffling, while the four-times-her-size Gorilla is puppylike in his zoom from glee to dejection. Kids who couldn’t get enough of the topsy-turvy friendship in OHora’s No Fits, Nilson! (BCCB 9/13) will appreciate this best-mate tale. DS - Copyright 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.