Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 02/01/2020 PreS-Gr 1—A multiracial group of neighbors plant and enjoy a community garden. Scanlon employs brief rhyming text to describe the many steps involved in preparing the soil, planting and watering, and waiting for the crops to grow. But gardening is not all work. There is "garden play," too, for children can splash and romp in the mud created by their watering hose. The cartoon illustrations, rendered in acrylic paint, watercolor, and Photoshop, have a matte finish. They depict an ever-smiling group of apple-cheeked children and adults, including a grandmother, engaged in gardening activities. Almost all the scenes are spreads on dark grounds that bleed off the pages. In one charming scene, a girl and boy kneel, the girl with her ear to the ground, both listening intently for the "garden hardly makes a sound/growing, slowly, underground." Even a "garden frog and worm and bees" make an appearance. Finally, the neighbors gather around a table to enjoy the fruits of their labor with a resounding, "Garden, yes!" VERDICT This delightful story is a perfect way to usher in the spring gardening season and inspire readers to get going on their own planting.—Marianne Saccardi, Children's Literature Consultant, Cambridge, MA - Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 03/15/2020 Using basic rhymes and happy illustrations that directly reflect the story, Scanlon and Shin have created an easy-to-read picture book for emergent readers, set entirely in a community garden. Children who are beginning to read will find the lightly rhyming language to be repetitive, predictable, and accessible, much like Eric Carle’s From Head to Toe (1997) and Sandra L. Pinkney’s Read and Rise (2006). For instance, one spread shows two children crouched low, listening to the soil and observing a butterfly, as the text reads, “Garden hardly makes a sound / growing, slowly, underground.” Shin’s illustrations, created in acrylic paint, watercolor, and Photoshop, are bright and welcoming, sometimes zooming in on the activity in the garden beds (revealing charming details like a tiny garden gnome or forgotten Matchbox car), and other times panning out to show the entire garden from a bird's-eye view. Additionally, the people working the garden are pleasingly diverse, both in terms of age and race. A simple, engaging snapshot of growing your own food and peacefully working alongside your neighbors. - Copyright 2020 Booklist.

Booklist - 03/15/2020 - Copyright 2020 Booklist.