Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 01/01/2023 K-Gr 2—Reminiscent of Chris Van Allsburg's Mysteries of Harris Burdick,but without the eeriness, Barnett captions a set of Robinson's flattened, brightly hued, paper-collage style cartoon scenes with open-ended questions for inventive storysmiths: "How many animals can you not see in this [picture] because they're hiding from the tiger?" "What is this boy" (who is standing between an ostrich and a tortoise in a wheelchair) "hiding behind his back?" "What kind of beast lives in this bathtub? And what does it eat?" The illustrator gets into the act by challenging viewers to concoct plotlines from random common items set in wordless arrays on the endpapers and, in a surreal transformation that just gets stranger the more it's looked at, turning one of a pair of lion paws in a scene into a full lion by adding a few inked lines and a tail. And perhaps with an eye to the Oh, the Places You'll Go! market, at the end a ship heads for the horizon. "Will you go with it? Are you ever coming back?" VERDICT An inspiring set of story prompts for younger audiences, with some longer thoughts for older ones slipped in.—John Edward Peters - Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 02/15/2023 *Starred Review* In an endlessly inventive, tongue-in-cheek fashion, the eternally celebrated Barnett joins forces with Caldecott nominee Robinson to craft a series of questions that work in creative tandem with the illustrations but, purposefully, have no answers. Stimulating conversation starters encourage children to use their imaginations as they consider their responses to posed questions. This is not a book made for quick page turns; there are many possible responses to every question, and each answer might lead to a lengthy discussion. Both questions and images range from the reasonable to the absurd: How did that cow get all the way up there? asks one page, which features a brown cow atop a windmill. Which of these fellows has a better singing voice? asks another, which features two men—one white, portly, and balding, the other Black, behatted, and skinny, each with their mouths wide open. Robinson’s large, crisp, brightly hued illustrations are eccentric and engaging, and the details in each leave room for more questions. Placed on white backgrounds, the mixed-media pictures, which include sponged paint and collage, are quirky and fun. This unconventional picture book will be a hit in storytimes and for one-on-one sharing, as the responses will probably change whenever the book is read.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Barnett and Robinson are both superstars in their own right. Together, and with a book that's built for rereading, this won't stay on shelves for long. - Copyright 2023 Booklist.