Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 10/01/2021 *Starred Review* A worthy companion to its two acclaimed thematic predecessors, Green (2012) and Blue (2018), Red is the story of a young red fox that lags behind its parent and three siblings, eventually becoming separated from them in the deep, dark forest. After spending a night alone, the little animal crosses a railroad track and finds itself near humans as evidenced by fences, a shed, a wheelbarrow, and a bright blue truck. Different hues of red drive the illustrations; the color appears in both the natural and the man-made world and brings with it associations as varied as anger, courage, danger, joy, and love. Seeger’s thickly painted illustrations deftly convey these myriad emotions, while spare yet effective text—only two words per page—conveys the dangers that the susceptible kit encounters: “rose red, mud red, rust red, blood red.” After a couple of lonely, hungry nights, the fox falls prey to a trap but finds rescue through an empathetic young girl. The color red appears in autumn sunsets and sunrises, late-blooming flowers, ripe apples, and the foliage of the trees while strategically placed die-cuts add interest to the already involving tale of a youngster trying to find its way home. - Copyright 2021 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 10/01/2021 PreS-Gr 2—Seeger masterfully draws readers into the unique, powerful link between emotion and color through her story of a lost red fox meeting human-made barriers on his journey home. She infuses different values of red into immersive, wooded landscapes to tell of the trying, increasingly distressing moments the fox faces on his journey. Textured with visible brushstrokes, Red expresses a myriad of strong emotions, from longing, pain, and rage to a final contrast conveying the warmth of kindness in an example of a young girl's care for the fox's freedom. Two-word phrases unobtrusively accompany most of the fully painted spreads to offer a direct means to name the type of red, or the emotional draw, within each scene, but the reader's eye will remain unhurried, carefully finding and "feeling" each hue. VERDICT Wrapped in the heavy, honest tensions between color and emotion, Seeger emboldens children to connect with the young fox's story and feel the raw consequence of humans' indifferent influence on the environment.—Rachel Mulligan, Westampton, NJ - Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.