Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 06/01/2015 *Starred Review* If there’s one thing parents know, it’s that babies, as much as we may love them, are exhausting. And as this book shows, that’s true in the animal kingdom as well. This tongue-in-cheek offering takes readers through some of those babies’ more, well, beastly aspects: they’re loud, they’re messy, and they never stop moving! This amusing read-aloud is made more enjoyable by carefully crafted rhymes that delight both in their simplicity (“Puppies slobber / kittens spill / young gorillas can’t sit still”) and their cleverness (“Babies can be smooth or hairy, / quail or whale or dromedary”). The madcap, colorful illustrations are a joy: multimedia animals layer brightly over a white background, and, comically, the animals are all given particularly expressive eyeballs. Children of the human variety will be engaged by the mischievous antics of their animal counterparts, while parents will find kindred spirits in the depictions of exhausted, exasperated animal parents. Marvelously executed and affectionately crafted, this is a standout in the parents-and-children canon that promises, like its subject, to age well. - Copyright 2015 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 06/01/2015 PreS-Gr 2—All kinds of babies appear in this cheerful tribute to mothers and their children. From a human infant to a newborn sloth, all of the babies have one thing in common; they are loved unconditionally by their mothers. Told in rhyming verse, the story showcases sea creatures, barnyard animals, African fauna, and household pets. All of the beastly babies are "Making mischief/having fun,/each is precious/every one." Tipping her hat to the circle of life, Jackson ends the narrative by observing that when the little ones grow up, they will be blessed with "beastly babies of their own." Drawn with bold lines and bright colors, the mixed-media illustrations add a sense of wonder to the story. The wide-eyed animals cavort, splash, and charge across the pages in a swirl of joyous activity. Share with fans of Marion Dane Bauer's My Mother Is Mine (S. & S., 2009), which is told from the youngster's point of view. VERDICT Young animal lovers will laugh out loud at the high-spirited antics of these beastly babies.—Linda L. Walkins, Saint Joseph Preparatory High School, Boston, MA - Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.