Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 09/15/2022 Tired of people shoving him away with lights and ungenerous thoughts, the Dark bids Earth adieu. In one celestial, amorphous blob, the Dark lifts off of the planet, taking his nocturnal wonders with him. A bright, golden light moves in in his absence, but, eventually, people begin to miss aspects of night and darkness. A redheaded boy realizes that he misses falling asleep to crickets’ song, the swooping of bats, and the hooting of owls, so he ventures off to find the Dark and bring him back. On his journey, the boy is joined by others until they persuade the Dark to return. Stringer uses watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil to create impactful, folk-style illustrations. Her depiction of darkness contains multitudes of beautiful, nighttime elements that swirl together in the loose shape of the Dark and in the speech bubbles of people discussing the beloved nocturnal phenomena they miss, from night-blooming jasmine to lightning bugs. A lovely ode to the beauty of the night that can also help allay misplaced fears about the dark. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.