Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 11/15/2015 *Starred Review* For those bound to be eager for winter’s end, beginning bright blue endpapers preview the joys and delights of spring: daffodils, robins, kites, and raindrops. A bleak wintertime blue-gray landscape quickly morphs into the pink-blossomed trees of April (“If you wait, Spring will bring leaves and blossoms”). Five sequential pictures humorously follow a snowman as he melts into a muddy mound of twigs for a happy robin to discover. The alliterative text—bugs, bees, boots, and bubbles; worms, wings, wind, and wheels—and the “if you wait” refrain accompanies action-filled double-page spreads of children and animals galloping and bounding. The acrylic art is in rich full color, accented with vibrant pastels and subjects, most notably the three white kittens who dart from page to page, thickly outlined in black. Full-bleed spreads contrast with generous white spaces that surround details of nesting birds and scurrying mice. At the book’s end, bright yellow endpapers illustrate some of summer’s anticipated delights, encouraging readers to look for toy boats, sand pails, beach balls, corn on the cob, and watermelon. Lyrical and elegant in its simplicity, this is an enchanting celebration of the season to pair with Oh! (1999), the paean to winter created by this same husband-and-wife team.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Henkes, a Newberry Honor Book author and Caldecott Medal winner, is always popular, and he and Dronzek have proven themselves to be an effective team. - Copyright 2015 Booklist.