Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 05/15/2017 *Starred Review* Returning to their Caldecott Honor Book world of Creepy Carrots! (2012), Reynolds and Brown put young Jasper Rabbit through even creepier, more scream-inducing horror, now with a pair of glow-in-the-dark underpants that, like the cat in the famous song (or a number of horror staples), keep . . . coming . . . back. Jasper doesn’t realize that his prized new undies glow, until the bedroom lights go out. His dismay quickly changes to terror after he stuffs them in the laundry hamper—and wakes up wearing them. The underwear refuses to stay in the garbage can or a box mailed to China, and they even come back after being cut up into snippets. Featuring a grimacing monster face in the illustrations and a green glow made even more lurid by the solid black backgrounds, the scary skivvies seem to leap out at viewers with each page turn. But then, when Jasper finally does at last find a way to dispose of them, the utter darkness in his room sparks a change of heart and a trip back to the local undie emporium. This strikes the ideal balance between frightening and hilarious, and like the underwear itself, readers are guaranteed to keep coming back for this storytime platinum! - Copyright 2017 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 08/01/2017 PreS-Gr 2—Jasper Rabbit and his mother go shopping one Thursday for much-needed new underwear. Bypassing the boring white pairs, Jasper begs his mom to get the peculiar looking but comfy neon green underwear—even if it resembles Frankenstein's monster. Reluctantly, Jasper's mother agrees, and so one pair of the psychedelic undies goes home with them. That night, however, Jasper tries to get rid of the underwear but it returns, "staring at him with that ghoulish, greenish glow." The garment's bright color and changing expressions are highlighted by their placement on dark backgrounds. Finally, Jasper successfully buries the underwear in a deep, deep hole. A totally black spread is followed by one with Jasper's huge round eyes, fearful of the dark, now dull without the green glow. After he digs up his original pair, Jasper spends his whole allowance and festoons his room with an entire collection of creepy green underwear. First introduced in Creepy Carrots, Jasper's antics are equally humorous and appropriately but safely spooky. VERDICT An enjoyable and comfortably spine-tingling picture book for a Halloween or any day storytime.—Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at District of Columbia Public Library - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.