Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 08/01/2018 *Starred Review* Those who worried how the world would survive the end of the Elephant & Piggie books can now rest easy; Willems is letting loose a new beginning reader series, Unlimited Squirrels. In this volume, Zoom Squirrel loses a front tooth, resulting in a temporary lisp. His confused, surprised, and saddened friends (we know this because Willems helpfully provides “emote-acorns” to identify these big feelings) vow to find it, especially once they learn it is a baby tooth (cue tears and wailing). Eventually the errant incisor returns and gets pushed off the page in a buggy. But wait, there’s more! Willems also provides several “acorn-y jokes,” a section of Squirrelly Facts (it turns out real squirrels lose only their back teeth, not the front ones), and a short quiz (revealing additional dentition details). Willems’ cartoony art (here rendered in brown and green tones) makes good use of comic conventions, including speech bubbles, panels, action words and symbols, and varied font sizes. The large cast of characters is introduced on the endpapers, and a self-referential title page depicts the characters pushing and opening this book. Similar in style and tone to Elise Gravel’s Disgusting Critters series, this is sure to engage, amuse, and inform on a topic of great concern to this age group. Bring on the next one, please! - Copyright 2018 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 08/01/2018 PreS-Gr 1—In this first title in a new easy reader series, Zoom Squirrel has lost his baby tooth and his frenetic squirrel friends (with names like Boom, Zap, and Zowie) are frantic to help him find it, because they literally think the tooth is a baby that must be scared, alone, and hungry! The madcap silliness and humor will please fans of "Elephant & Piggie." The format is similar, too, with spare text in speech bubbles along with varying text size and boldness to convey strong emotions. Clean, simply drawn illustrations are done in muted shades of brown. In addition to the story, there are a couple of other sections (enough to warrant a Table of Contents for the 96-page book) such as "Acorn-y Jokes," and the clever addition of some factual information about teeth, provided by a character named Research Rodent. Savvy readers will find Pigeon hiding on one of the pages, and will enjoy locating the various "emote-acorns" throughout the book—acorns with different expressions. VERDICT Another easy reader hit for Willems. Fans of "Elephant & Piggie" will enjoy the author's trademark humor and format and embrace these new squirrely friends.—Ramarie Beaver, Plano Public Library System, TX - Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.