Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 09/29/2023 K-Gr 2—From the creators of Room on the Broom comes a story of three silly baddies. A troll, a ghost, and a witch are quite proud of being bad. They have poor manners, argue frequently, and generally compete with each other over who is the worst. The competition gets heated when a new girl moves into town and they all race to see who can scare her the most and steal her blue hanky as the trophy. After all of the attempts to run the girl off though, readers learn she's really quite nice; kindness just might be the way for someone to win the hanky. The story is a fun way to showcase how negative behavior can have negative consequences, and vice versa. The illustrations are rough with lots of character and color, and children will enjoy pointing out the details throughout. The text is written with simple rhymes and can be used to highlight and practice rhyming skills. VERDICT For libraries without the first book, there's no need for this one. But if that book does well, give this one a try and watch readers cheer as the baddies fail at being their worst.—Darla Kaminsky - Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.