Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 12/01/2022 *Starred Review* Four Black children race toward a giant tree. They climb, scattering themselves among its sturdy branches. Flashback to an earlier time, when a solitary girl picks up a seed. This is Nell. One day she will be a grandmother, sustaining her family as the tree does; the dual narrative explains both of their stories. In the present, there is a lot of joyous activity around the tree, and the movement is reflected in the buoyant language of Wynter's text. Each page begins with a description of what is happening in the illustration, then carries the action backward in time. Nell’s scenes of digging, planting, watering, and caring for the tree are accompanied by short and quiet individual lines of prose. As the tree grows, people join Nell. First, a young boy—a brother, perhaps; later, a husband and children. They get older, and the tree’s roots and branches expand. By the end, its trunk is wide and solid, and a large, multigenerational family is gathered, enjoying pecan pie made from the tree’s nuts. Miyares' pen-and-ink, gouache, and collage illustrations pair well with the two story lines, effectively expanding the concept of a family tree being both a physical tree and a representation of loving relationships, or genealogy. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.