Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 12/15/2016 *Starred Review* Princess Cora leads a well-ordered life, with three daily baths, dull books to study, and a skipping rope for supervised exercise. After her royal parents refuse to give her a dog, her fairy godmother sends a talking crocodile instead. Alarmingly fierce-looking but potentially an ally, if fairy godmothers can be trusted, the crocodile appears to be the worst pet imaginable, but he’s exactly what the princess needs. She takes a day off to run outside and play while the croc, dressed in her pink dress, upends her usual routine. By the day’s end, when Cora speaks up for herself, her frazzled parents are ready to listen. An accomplished storyteller who knows her audience, Schlitz offers an original tale that seamlessly combines reality, magic, and wit. Floca’s expressive pencil, watercolor, and gouache artwork perfectly captures the characters, from the well-intentioned but unreflective parents to the muscular, wild-eyed crocodile, who looks particularly ludicrous and cagey when wearing Cora’s dress and petticoats. With fairly large type, ample white space, and lively, colorful illustrations on almost every page, this early chapter book is beautifully designed for newly independent readers. For younger children, it’s a memorable choice for reading aloud in the home or classroom. Either way, it’s great fun. - Copyright 2016 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 01/01/2017 Gr 1–4—Little Cora is an old-fashioned princess with a decidedly contemporary problem: her well-meaning parents have overscheduled her with improving experiences, and she just wants a day off. Failing at her less than assertive attempts to convince the adults of her castle to give her a break, she calls on her fairy godmother for assistance. The help comes in the form of a gigantic crocodile who dons Cora's frilly pink dress and takes her place in the princess's daily routine of excessive bath taking, spreadsheet review, and calisthenics in the dungeon-turned-gym. Schlitz's narrative is incredibly entertaining, with chapters that alternate between chaos at the castle and Cora's meandering day in the woods and pastures. Featuring Floca's hysterical full-color artwork, the book is laugh-out-loud funny. The crocodile's expressive, snaggle-toothed face and extreme body language clearly convey his frustration with Cora's required activities, and his eventual shutdown of each oblivious adult is a bored child's dream come true. The fable is reminiscent of the finest adult-comeuppance collaborations of Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake, with the added bonus that the princess learns to speak up for herself and the grown-ups learn to listen. The book's trim size and artwork will appeal to fans of Kate DiCamillo's "Mercy Watson" series, and the elegant prose reads aloud beautifully. VERDICT This delightful illustrated chapter book is a first purchase for all elementary schools and public libraries.—Beth Wright Redford, Richmond Elementary School Library, VT - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.