Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 06/01/2015 Poor Gerald is incredibly cranky. And tired. Luckily, he knows the cure. He will take a nap! Blanket and Knuffle Bunny in arm, he settles in for some shut-eye. But just as he is drifting off, Piggie appears, shouting for Gerald and obliterating the start of his relaxing dream. “What are you doing?” Piggie wants to know. In his loudest, crankiest shout, the force of which bounces Piggie onto her head, Gerald explains that he is trying to nap. Now Piggie is feeling cranky, so the friends decide to nap together. Unfortunately, Piggie snores so loudly that Gerald doesn’t have a chance at falling asleep. Piggie wakes refreshed, and Gerald—eyes red with rage—snaps, and things take a ridiculous twist. The simple line illustrations turn the comical exchange between Gerald and Piggie into pure slapstick. Willems, as usual, knows all the buttons to push to get kids laughing, and his decision to write a naptime tale about a character who wants to sleep, but can’t, only adds to the silliness. - Copyright 2015 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 07/01/2015 K-Gr 2—Willems delivers another exemplary entry for beginning readers. Announcing that he is cranky and tired, Gerald the elephant decides to take a nap to improve his mood. Just how restful this will be comes into serious question when Piggie enters his dream and begins pestering him. The increasingly agitated elephant freaks out, as Gerald is wont to do, and soon both Piggie and Elephant are in desperate need of sleep. This dream sequence goes from funny to downright kooky when their respective stuffed animals, acting as a Greek chorus, comment on some of the more outrageous happenings. The expressions of Elephant and Piggie, in combination with the simple yet emotional text, will have young readers laughing and identifying with the characters and the topic. VERDICT Filled with slapstick humor and a sense of the absurd, this book is a sure bet for fans of the series and a lovely introduction for those not yet acquainted with it.—Amy Nolan, St. Joseph Public Library, St. Joseph, MI - Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2015 Tired, cranky Gerald wisely recognizes that a nap is just what he needs to feel good again, and he quickly settles into sleep with his blankie and Knuffle Bunny (from Knuffle Bunny, BCCB 10/04). In his subsequent dream, Piggie disturbs his nap, and Gerald’s grouchy response to her interruption makes her so cranky that she, too, wants to take a restorative rest. Her “special buddy” for napping is a stuffed elephant (which Gerald finds endearing), and soon both pals are off to dreamland-until Piggie’s snores keep Gerald from sleeping. When Gerald throws a fit about not being able to sleep and declares, “I am NOT enjoying my nap, Piggie! I am NOT napping!”, she counters with “But, if you are not napping, how can I be floating?” as Gerald’s dream takes a wacky turn. A page turn reveals further slumberous silliness from Piggie: “And WHY is my head a TURNIP?” (“Good question,” agrees Knuffle Bunny). Finally Gerald awakens from his dream, and when the real Piggie asks if he had a good nap, he can’t resist replying: “I sure did, Turnip Head.” You can’t go wrong with Elephant and Piggie, and parents and teachers will especially appreciate Willems’ efforts to put a positive spin on naptime, although this title is more likely to induce hysterical giggling than sanity-restoring snoozing. Kids will be tickled by the crabby outbursts from both Gerald and Piggie but will find particularly amusing the “turnip head” scenes (the sight of Knuffle Bunny and the stuffed elephant chanting, “She’s a floating TURNIP HEAD!” will slay them). Beginning readers will easily be able to tackle this text, and Willems’ illustrations remain a perfect blend of slapstick and simplicity. For double the turnip fun, pair this with Thomas’ A Birthday for Cow (BCCB 7/08). JH - Copyright 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.