Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 02/15/2020 While snorkeling in a glittering sea, a boy meets a blue-haired mermaid, who, in a series of wordless panels, leads him to the underwater city where she lives. Together they resurface and catch sight of a circus at the shore, which sparks a desire within the mermaid to perform. The slightly saccharine text is offset by Litchfield’s rainbow-infused artwork, which evokes the wonder of individuality encompassed by the circus, where tattooed strongmen, trapeze artists, fire-eaters, and clowns happily coexist. With the boy’s help, the mermaid joins their ranks, first on display in a kiddie pool, then moving into a glass tank. It would be a depressing state of affairs, if the message of the book weren’t about trying new things in order to find where you belong. Consequently, the mermaid’s stint with the circus gives her an appreciation of the sea, to which she is lovingly returned by all her new friends. The prismatic illustrations are the real draw of this book, and the mermaid’s agency in all her adventures lend it added sparkle. - Copyright 2020 Booklist.