The button war : a tale of the Great War
Record details
- ISBN: 0763690538 (hardcover)
- ISBN: 9780763690533 (hardcover)
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Physical Description:
229 pages ; 21 cm
print - Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: Somerville, Massachusetts. Candlewick Press, 2018.
Content descriptions
Target Audience Note: | Middle School |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Buttons Fiction Competition (Psychology) Fiction Boys Fiction World War, 1914-1918 Fiction |
Genre: | Historical fiction. |
Available copies
- 1 of 2 copies available at Kenton County.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 2 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Erlanger Branch | J AVI (Text) | 33126022939429 | JFiction | Checked out | 04/17/2024 |
Independence Branch | J AVI (Text) | 33126022939437 | JFiction | Available | - |
- School Library Journal Reviews : SLJ Reviews 2018 May
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal.Gr 5â8â Avi's intense and cautionary novel is a psychological thriller set in a hardscrabble Polish village during World War I. Patryk, the 12-year-old narrator, is one of a group of boys who meet nightly at the village water pump to share news and plan adventures, most of which are harmless dares. But on the night the Germans drop a bomb on the local schoolhouse, their lives are changed forever. A troubled boy named Jurek, whose parents died years earlier and who lives with his older sister, challenges his friends to steal the shiniest and most intricately designed military button. The winner, according to Jurek, will be the king. The king of what is unimportant to Jurek, a boy anxious to have control over something in his life. Patryk recognizes the danger of Jurek winning; he has seen glimpses of Jurek's cold heart and knows the danger he poses. But when the contest has tragic consequences, Patryk is torn between his loyalty to his friends and his conscience. One by one, the group of boys, described by Patryk as a "flock of wild goats," pays a price for their willingness to follow the rules of Jurek's reckless game. The culminating scene in a forest blurs the lines between the "button war" and the real war raging around them.VERDICT Avi has written a compelling and tautly constructed book that is a portal to grappling with the complexity of the human instinct to compete. Highly recommended.âShelley Sommer, Inly School, Scituate, MA