Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 11/01/2021 Grandma’s coming to visit, and the family—two dads and their kids—must quickly tidy up. Getting started, one dad assigns who’ll be doing what, listing everything on the refrigerator in colorful letter magnets—“Bobby, mop the floor. / Dad will scrub the dishes. / I’ll vacuum the rug. / Sarah, feed the fishes”—plus, there’s giving kitty a bath. Hearing the latter, the none-too-thrilled cat takes action, rearranging the refrigerator words, and then the task-organizer jumbles his instructions, too (“I’ll vacuum the lawn. / Bobby, bathe the mat. / Sarah, mop the baby, / and Dad will mow the cat”). But kitty’s not keen on that either! The cat scrambles the words again (and again), with the confusion escalating with each mischievous revision. Finally, everything’s sorted and neat when Grandma arrives, and while kitty never receives a bath, perhaps that was the plan all along. Lively, expressive watercolor-and-pencil illustrations of the multiracial family and animated scenarios are the perfect accompaniment for the peppy rhyming text, humorously depicting the household-chores chaos (and kitty’s contributions) in this inviting, quite entertaining read-aloud friendly title. - Copyright 2021 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 11/01/2021 PreS-K—A sly cat helms this comedy of errors featuring a diverse family with two fathers who both have brown skin and black hair. Expecting Grandma Marge at two o'clock, the parents and their kids follow a list of chores that must be done in order to get the house in top form. One father outlines the chore list with alphabetic refrigerator magnets. When the family cat catches wind that his bath is on the list, he rearranges the chores to read, "feed the floor … sweep the dishes." Tomfoolery ensues as the family sets out on their jumbled tasks, and the cat—unable to read the words he is rearranging—finds this mix-up did not work out in his favor, as he hears the final task of "mow the cat." The cat moves the letters yet again and the chores get ever sillier, ending with—much to the feline's dismay—"vacuum the cat." The family has almost run out of time to clean before Grandma Marge's arrival, so one father takes charge, ending the list with a much more kitty-friendly "rock the cat." Told in rhyming verse, McGinty's silly yarn has charm to spare. Young readers will be tickled by the cat's mischievous misdirects and the resulting pandemonium. Roberts's pen and watercolor illustrations carry on the aesthetic tradition of Pat Hutchins and Judi Barrett, paying homage to the colors and fashions of the 70s. Each page is filled with well-conceived details that deserve close inspection.VERDICT Preschoolers will be in stitches reading this modern revelry told through a vintage lens. A recommended purchase for most collections.—Sarah Simpson, Westerville P.L., OH - Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.