Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 06/01/2020 Faith Herbert loves superheroes. She could happily spend hours trolling online fandom boards or swapping theories about her favorite shows and comic books with her two best friends. But despite her fervor, it does come as something of a surprise when she becomes a superhero herself. She's got the tragic backstory—her parents died when she was younger, and she's been raised by her grandma—but she hasn't seen many fat superheroes represented in mainstream media. As she works on mastering her new flying abilities in between shifts at the local pet shelter, her town is thrown into chaos as popular TV show The Grove, Faith's favorite, arrives to film there and, simultaneously, people and animals start mysteriously vanishing. As Faith navigates a new and surprising romantic connection with Dakota, one of the star actresses on the show, she also can't stop herself from investigating the disappearances. Murphy shifts gears to launch this new series, based on the Valiant Comics universe, that's body positive and deliciously keyed into fandom. Readers will flock to this inclusive romp.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Murphy's best known for Dumplin' (2015), a best-seller-turned-Netflix-movie, and this latest incorporates the body positivity of that book with the perpetual popularity of superheroes. Better have a few extra copies on hand. - Copyright 2020 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 07/01/2020 Gr 8 Up—Faith lives with her Grandma Lou and loves animals, running a fan site for the TV drama The Grove, and hanging out with her best friends. She's also hiding a big secret: She's a superhero. Last summer, she was not actually at camp, but imprisoned—being "activated" by evil scientists. Faith is ready to move on, focusing on school and the cute boy she's liked forever—with occasional flying practice. Then The Grove moves production to Faith's town and she rapidly becomes (more than?) friends with lead actress Dakota Ash. A mystery is afoot, with townsfolk and pets going missing, and a strange new drug circulating at school. Faith uses her new bird's eye view to do some Veronica Mars-style sleuthing. Readers of Valiant's "Faith" comics will see that character translated from a flying millennial who works at a Buzzfeed-style media outlet, to a bisexual 12th grader who writes for the school paper. Murphy knows how to build characters and evoke a sense of place. Here, she borrows from teen soaps and superhero comics in ways that turbo-charge the pace and heighten the stakes. The resulting queer, fat, superhero coming-of-age novel has enough heart to anchor the wilder plot points and to balance campiness with relatability. Some readers may feel thrown by the busy narrative, but most hijinks are handled expertly, and the plot is no more complicated than Riverdale or Spider-Man. VERDICT This #OwnVoices genre and format mashup is fun and memorable, and should produce legions of new Faith superfans.—Miriam DesHarnais, Towson Univ., MD - Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

School Library Journal - 07/01/2020 Gr 8 Up—Faith lives with her Grandma Lou and loves animals, running a fan site for the TV drama The Grove, and hanging out with her best friends. She's also hiding a big secret: She's a superhero. Last summer, she was not actually at camp, but imprisoned—being "activated" by evil scientists. Faith is ready to move on, focusing on school and the cute boy she's liked forever—with occasional flying practice. Then The Grove moves production to Faith's town and she rapidly becomes (more than?) friends with lead actress Dakota Ash. A mystery is afoot, with townsfolk and pets going missing, and a strange new drug circulating at school. Faith uses her new bird's eye view to do some Veronica Mars-style sleuthing. Readers of Valiant's "Faith" comics will see that character translated from a flying millennial who works at a Buzzfeed-style media outlet, to a bisexual 12th grader who writes for the school paper. Murphy knows how to build characters and evoke a sense of place. Here, she borrows from teen soaps and superhero comics in ways that turbo-charge the pace and heighten the stakes. The resulting queer, fat, superhero coming-of-age novel has enough heart to anchor the wilder plot points and to balance campiness with relatability. Some readers may feel thrown by the busy narrative, but most hijinks are handled expertly, and the plot is no more complicated than Riverdale or Spider-Man. VERDICT This #OwnVoices genre and format mashup is fun and memorable, and should produce legions of new Faith superfans.—Miriam DesHarnais, Towson Univ., MD - Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.