Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 10/01/2019 Depicted as a dachshund but human in every other way, Charlie always follows the same routine—from hopping out of bed in the morning in a certain way to arranging his toys just so at night—in hopes of keeping anything terrible from happening. But when a frantic early morning call to come help a friend in need (Hans, a chubby bull terrier, is stuck in a pipe) knocks his routines askew, Charlie's realization that evening that everything turned out fine anyway dispels his anxiety. Milne places her expressively drawn all-animal cast in pleasant suburban surroundings while gently suggesting that when Charlie dares to vary his routine a smidge, what happens may be wonderful rather than terrible. Young readers savvy enough to see that just because nothing bad happens now doesn’t mean disaster won’t strike later may find Charlie’s liberation a bit too quick. Still, this canine storytime companion for Jennifer Black Reinhardt’s feline Blue Ethel (2017) could give children whose attachment to daily rituals is more a stage than a symptom a bit of a nudge. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 10/01/2019 PreS-Gr 2—Charlie is a dachshund who "did everything the same, every day." Successfully repeated tasks like taking three hops out of bed and walking on the same side of a tree make him feel that things will "turn out okay." When he hears that a friend is in trouble, though, he rushes to the scene and saves the day, even though it means he can't complete all of his daily rituals. The dog realizes that things still turned out okay, despite the disruption to his routine. The next morning Charlie decides to complete most of his tasks, but not all of them, and now recognizes that things can still be wonderful. Ink-and-watercolor illustrations depict an appealing cast of animal friends. Charlie's anxiety comes through in his eyes and posture, but there's a lightness to the drawings that softens the stress appropriately. The relative ease with which Charlie solves his problem does not reflect the complex challenges of anxiety-related disorders, but it's not meant to. Instead, the story provides an accessible introduction to how worry can affect the life of a child, or a dachshund. VERDICT An appealing story that can serve as a useful conversation starter for discussions about childhood anxiety and dealing with change.—Steven Engelfried, Wilsonville Public Library, OR - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.