Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 09/01/2018 *Starred Review* Yuyi Morales and her son are dreamers—the books they read allow them to imagine a new life in a new country that doesn’t always welcome them. Based on her own immigration tale, the multi-award-winning Morales’ newest picture book recounts the challenges and wonders of living in a new country. She and her son experience discrimination because they don’t always know the rules and customs of their new home. English becomes a barrier that makes it difficult for them to fully comprehend the world around them. Despite it all, Morales and her son find hope in the books of their local library, and their voracious reading leads them to create their own books. The narrative text is poetic and full of emotion. The English version is sprinkled with Spanish words like migrantes, caminantes, and amor, which monolingual readers will understand from the context of the story. In classic Morales style, the mixed-media illustrations are breathtaking, created through painting, drawing, photography, and embroidery. The joyous imagination and intricacy of each illustration will make readers of all ages explore them further. The pages with the library, for example, depict the covers of other significant Latinx children’s books like Carmen Lomas Garza’s In My Family / En mi familia (2000) and Jorge Argueta’s A Movie in My Pillow / Una pelicula en mi almohada (2001). This rich offering launches the new Neal Porter Books imprint and can be paired with Duncan Tonatiuh’s Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight? (2018) for its focus on the Latinx immigrant experience. - Copyright 2018 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 09/01/2018 PreS-Gr 3—The acclaimed creator of Niño Wrestles the World and Viva Frida has crafted another masterpiece in this autobiographical picture book. From her son's birth to their move to the United States from Mexico in the mid-1990s to their often fraught- and barrier-filled life, the tale highlights the many obstacles immigrants face while trying to survive in a new country that doesn't readily welcome non—English-speaking people of color. The pair encounters respite at the library where, with the help of librarians, they find a home in the children's section. The dreamlike, lyrical text captures the wonder of childhood, learning, and discovery through books. The magical art marries the succinct and powerful narrative in a resplendent celebration of literacy, language, and the transformative power of the picture book form. Readers will delight in finding Morales's tributes to kid lit classics, new and old, throughout the spreads. The majestic illustrations often incorporate Mexican traditions and mythology and they resound with mythic imagery, speaking volumes about the love and dreams shared between mother and child. Morales explains in an author's note that she and her son are not "Dreamers" in the modern sense—"young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children"—but dreamers in the sense of all immigrants who come to a new country. Also appended are a thorough list of the books referenced in the artwork and a fascinating note on the materials used in the creation of this work, including a nib pen that once belonged to Maurice Sendak, scanned images of Morales's studio floor, her and her son's childhood drawings, and more. VERDICT This excellent memoir encapsulates the fears, hopes, and dreams that come along with immigrating to a new place and building a new life in an unfamiliar and often hostile landscape. A timely and much-needed selection.—Shelley M. Diaz, School Library Journal - Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.