Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 11/01/2019 *Starred Review* A white Bengal tiger traverses the world with nothing but a blue neckerchief and a chair tied to its back with a hot-pink rope. Lush full-bleed double-page spreads place the tiger in various natural environments, with only a single word that labels the location. The tiger is always in motion, climbing a valley, swinging in a cloud forest, swimming through an atoll, hiking dunes, and even cuddling bears in their foothills. Some locations may be more familiar—steppe, gorge, lagoon, vista, badlands, tundra, gulch, glacier—while others may be less so—fjord, archipelago, estuary, chaparral, isthmus. Chang’s impressionistic mixed-media illustrations capture the awesome scope of each terrain, focusing on the larger components, peppered with the occasional critter (including a stealthy brown mouse that offers a seek-and-find game on most spreads). No clear narrative emerges until the final page, when the tiger enters the taiga—a swampy forest—and finds its partner and two cubs waiting at the dinner table, set with an open space for one more chair. A glossary provides thumbnails of each spread along with the definitions of the specific landscapes. While this may be a tough sell for young ones, the stunning artwork makes a case for environmentalism and will have readers strapping on a chair and heading out in search of our planet’s diverse and wondrous beauty. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 11/01/2019 PreS-Gr 3—A white tiger transports a yellow dining room chair on a fantastic voyage across varied landscapes. Each spread features a single topographic designation. The tiger swims, climbs, hikes, rows, and meanders his way across a tundra, estuary, atoll, cloud forest, and more. Occasionally, the tiger interacts with other animals such as bears in the foothills. A white bird and a brown mouse appear on many pages, which will intrigue sharp-eyed viewers. In fact, the illustrations, richly colored and consistently arresting, offer a visual feast. The four-page foldout, aptly dubbed "vista," allows readers to share the tiger's contemplation of a brilliant sunset. The journey's end seems almost an anticlimax after the fabulous trip. Eggers supplies cursory definitions of terms in a glossary at the end. Some brief entries provide examples of countries or continents where the geographical feature is found. Others mention representative plants or animals or describe physical features. VERDICT The wonderful illustrations will excite viewers about the natural world but libraries will want to have nonfiction titles on hand to satisfy childrens' curiosity about the geographic features depicted.—Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University Library, Mankato - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.