Bound To Stay Bound

Bulletin for the Center... - 06/01/2014 Throughout all of his previous adventures, the Pigeon has shown a remarkable ability to keep his blue feathers pristine and unsullied. Not so here: the Pigeon appears on the cover smudged with dark brown stains of an unspecified origin (now there’s a pre-reading question in the making-how did our friend get so dirty?-a question answered in the endpapers, of course). The bus driver, wearing Knuffle Bunny slippers and obviously prepped for a bath of his own, solicits the help of the audience to convince the reluctant pigeon to bathe, and it’s game on. Deploying his formidable skills of argumentation, the pigeon offers up a number of reasons why he should not have to take a bath, but when even the flies buzzing around him are put off by his stench, he gives in. After getting the water juuuuuust right (oh, those endless delaying tactics all too familiar to the parent of the bath-averse!), he realizes that he loves taking a bath, especially when his friend, the duckling, stays close by. The comic pleasures of hyperbole abound here as they have in previous Pigeon plots; the bird’s rhetorical inventiveness seems to know no limit (in fact, the vocabulary here is somewhat more advanced than in previous Pigeon titles). The familiar creamy-smooth backgrounds impart a simple reinforcement of the dirt motif by being more earthy than usual, while the smears of dirt on our hero have a textured, uneven quality that unerringly evokes a more visceral, lip-curling eeeuw; close viewers will surely find a favorite panel. If only it came in a waterproof edition . . . KC - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

School Library Journal - 06/01/2014 K-Gr 2—Persuasive Pigeon is back. He doesn't feel that he really needs a bath—after all, it's a "matter of opinion." "Clean" and "dirty" are "just words, right?" With a polished technique that logically approaches the problem, Pigeon speaks with a child's voice as he rationalizes his decision while forcefully questioning those who might even suggest that his personal hygiene and the flies buzzing around are not just "coincidental." The water might be "too hot…not deep enough…too cold…or too wet," but it only takes a mere 30 tiny frames and a dramatic large-font spread before Pigeon grandly displays the myriad possibilities for a happy bird in the bath. Willems's dirt-smudged pigeon is at once clever, garrulous, energetic, and just slightly excitable. Through simple flat-line illustrations, this bird's expressions and attitude are easy to discern. Pigeon fans will not want to miss this book, a "must add" to all libraries, for any reader appreciating the perfect art of persuasion.—Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.