Bound To Stay Bound

Other - 10/06/2025 This rousing historical novel highlights the Silver Crash of 1893, a consequential moment in American history whose economic implications dramatically impact the protagonists’ dreams of cultivating a better future for themselves. Thirteen-year-old Ollie Cleary lives with his mother and 11-year-old brother Gus in Gatchett’s Gulch, Colo., a silver mining settlement where the family ekes out a living doing laundry for the prospectors. Ollie dreams of finding silver and becoming rich, but the camp’s founder, Elijah Gatchett, forbids unauthorized mining. When Ollie and Gus stumble across an unoccupied cave containing a silver lode, they hatch a plan to register a claim and start their own rival mining operation. Enlisting their 11-year-old English-born friend Alys Thomas and adult newcomer Bertram Blake, a traveling teacher and geologist, the boys dive into their scheme, which they must complete before Gatchett finds out and shuts them down. Meanwhile, rumors of rapidly decreasing silver prices threaten the town’s economy. Avi (Lost in the Empire City) organically captures the atmosphere of the era and setting via Ollie’s animated narration, which maintains a sense of optimism and hope throughout his slice-of-life coming-of-age experiences and classic kid adventures. The memorably rendered characters cue as white. Ages 8-12. (Jan.) - Copyright 2025

School Library Journal - 11/21/2025 Gr 4–7—For brothers Ollie and Gus, "nowhere" is Gatchett's Gulch, a remote, distressed mining camp in 1893 Colorado. Ollie, 13, believes their only hope is prospecting his own silver mine and striking it rich: he'd be able to move Gus, 11, and his mother to a better life. Ollie isn't deterred even though he's a kid who can't read or write, and mine owner Elijah Gatchett illegally controls all prospecting in the area. Ollie's fortunes shift when Bertram Blake, a geologist and teacher at the State School of Mines, arrives at the camp. Blake, a wealth of information for Ollie—and readers—explains how to "read" the rocks as well as the government's involvement in silver mining and agrees to help the boy stake a claim. The novel's leisurely pace peaks at Ollie's bold attempt to hire miners away from Gatchett and start his own mine, quickly thwarted by Gatchett's armed thugs. A hopeful future is in store for the family. Perhaps it's not what readers might envision, but they'll understand what Ollie means: "there was more than one way to get rich." Ollie's first-person narrative vividly recreates a world far from modern-day comforts, sure to captivate fans of historical fiction. Back matter includes an author's note on resources and an intriguing Q&A about his writing process. Ollie and Gus are cued white. VERDICT Avi is a master of historical fiction, addressing universal issues that transcend his novel's setting and timeline. A first purchase.—Marybeth Kozikowski - Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.