Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 06/01/2019 *Starred Review* Along with being a front runner for best picture-book title of the year, Shea's latest collaboration is a quick study in how saving face can be a team effort. Returning to his scout camp from a doughnut run, Reuben the bear discovers that his pants are wet. Immediately he explodes in furious accusations (see title), all of which get only temporizing responses—“It was probably just an accident,” “It could happen to anyone”—from one poker-faced member of the troop after another. But if there are any straight faces left in live audiences (particularly after Reuben’s bellowed “I’ll get to the bottom of my wet pants if it’s the last thing I do!”), they aren’t going to survive the conclusion he reaches after recalling what he spent the day doing in those very same pants (chugging lemonade and walking past a waterfall, taking a nap with his paw in an aquarium): “THESE PANTS ARE BROKEN!” The discreet yellow stain around Reuben’s crotch, plainly visible in each scene, will provide a further source of merriment. Dressed in scout uniforms, each member of the unusually diverse troop in OHora’s woodsy illustrations is a different creature, and their unfeigned sympathy for Reuben makes this a fine counter to the schadenfreude-tinged likes of Suzy Senior’s Octopants (2018), Rosemary Wells’ Fiona’s Little Accident (2018), Todd H. Doodler’s Veggies with Wedgies (2014), or Mark Fearing’s Giant Pants (2017).HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Shea's comic stylings have earned him plenty of eager fans, and OHora has illustrated a number of picture books funny enough to make anyone wet their pants. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 09/01/2019 PreS-Gr 2—Reuben is going on a camping trip with his scout group, and when he arrives to the campsite he has wet pants. He wants to know who is responsible. All of Reuben's friends are supportive and tell him that it is okay if he wet his pants; it happens to everyone. However, Reuben is sure that someone else wet his pants. As Reuben retraces his steps and confronts his friends, he slowly comes to the realization that no one else wet his pants. The pants are broken! Reuben forgives his friends and shares the donuts he has brought along. The illustrations are done in bold colors and offers compelling details of the work that needs to be completed on a camping trip. The other animals are cute, and offer Reuben understanding and compassion as he struggles with his wet pants. The message of the book is for kids to learn to offer understanding and empathy when something embarrassing happens to a friend. It even shows Reuben behaving in an illogical way, but his friends still love him. VERDICT A cute story to help teach social emotional learning.—Nicole Detter-Smith, Homestead High School, IN - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.