Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 09/15/2022 Everything changes at the heya (training center) the day that Okamisan brings home a puppy named Chanko-chan. The rikishi (wrestlers) adore her, but all Chanko-chan wants to do is follow SumoKitty around, slobber, and bark incessantly. SumoKitty decides to teach Chanko-chan the Ways of the Kitty. But will the drooling, yapping pup have what it takes to become a ferocious mouse-hunter? Unlikely. She might, though, become a wonderful and loyal friend. In this delightful companion piece to SumoKitty (2019), Biedrzycki yet again finds both humor and important lessons by placing unlikely animals side by side with sumo wrestlers. Done in a beautiful mix of pencil, watercolor, and digital techniques, the art style uniquely and skillfully superimposes the detailed realism of the Japanese countryside and sumo-wrestling world with the cartoonish buffoonery of pratfalling pets. There are translations of Japanese terminology throughout, along with strong messages on mentoring, determination, and resilience, but the more serious bits are buried, as skillfully as a doggie bone, under a feel-good gigglefest about a well-meaning and goofy-looking dog in a mawashi loincloth. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.