The Memory String by Eve Bunting illustrated by Ted Rand

I seem to read so many middle grade novels where the main character, often a young girl, is grieving the death of a parent, usually her mother. The child is usually very angry and confused about this loss and often shows this through resentment of other adults who may have formed a relationship with their remaining parent. In this book Laura's mum has died and dad has a new partner named Jane.  

Laura cannot talk to Jane. In fact she is openly rude and even hostile towards her. Laura finds some comfort in a string of buttons left to her by her mum. There are buttons from her great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, father and even a couple of her own childhood buttons. 

Unlike the books I mentioned previously - this book is a picture book. In the space of just 32 pages Eve Bunting explores and resolves a huge emotional journey. One evening, while Laura is holding her memory string and trying to recount all the stories to her feisty cat the string breaks and the buttons are scattered all over the garden. Jane is not an evil stepmother. She and Laura's dad hunt far and wide and retrieve all but one of the buttons. Later that evening, when Laura is supposed to be in bed asleep, Jane finds the final button - it is from dad's army shirt and was a button that was very precious to Laura's mum. The way Jane lets Laura find this button is filled with wisdom and kindness. 

The final scenes in this book made me cry - that is a refection of the power of this writing. This is an older long form picture book published in 2000 but paperback copies from 2015 are still available (June 2023). I enjoyed the story journey in this book but sadly I am not a fan of the art - especially the images of the angry cat. 

Eve Bunting is now 94 years old. She has written over 250 books. My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything often talks about her book Fly Away Home. Look for Swan in Love and Whales Passing in your school library.  Here are some other titles you might recognise:

A simple, moving tale of a family in transition  Kirkus Star review

I have also talked about the importance of buttons and button collections in a previous post. 

Hound Dog True by Linda Urban

"I'm Mattie Breen ... I'm bold and friendly"

"There are laws that says she has to be in the classroom to learn fractions and spelling and survival of the fittest. But there are not laws about going outside at recess time. And there are not laws about where to sit at lunchtime."

There is a raw honesty and a tenderness in this book which I just loved. But this is balances with some sweetly funny moments and small touches of kindness. Mattie feels like an outsider. Life confuses her. She has changed towns and schools so often. "Mama never owns more than can fit in a pickup truck." She longs to fit in. She longs to make a friend. Her anxiety makes everyday life very hard. But Mattie is a problem solver. She has worked out a terrific way to survive at her newest school. Mama and Mattie have gone to live with Uncle Potluck. Uncle Potluck is the school Janitor. Right now it is the summer holidays and because mama is at work Mattie is tagging along to the empty school to help her Uncle. Mattie thinks if Uncle Potluck will take her on as his assistant then all her worries about recess and lunch breaks and interacting with the other kids will be solved because she will be busy working as a custodial apprentice.

"She will spend the next four days writing and learning and being professional next to Uncle Potluck, proving herself worthy of being a true custodial apprentice. Proving how once school starts, he should keep her by his side, instead of making her go to lunch or recess or be with whatever wild kids might be at Mitchell P Andersen Elementary. That is Mattie's plan."

Back in her old school another student got her hands on Mattie's precious notebook. "Most nights she had slept easy. Until fourth grade. Until Star." - Please read chapter five to your class if you do a book talk about Hound Dog True. 

But will her plan to be a janitor work? And what about the pesky girl next door called Quincy? And what if Mama wants to move them on again?

Publisher blurb Harper Collins: Do not let a mop sit overnight in water. Fix things before they get too big for fixing. Custodial wisdom: Mattie Breen writes it all down. She has just one week to convince Uncle Potluck to take her on as his custodial apprentice at Mitchell P. Anderson Elementary School. One week until school starts and she has to be the new girl again. But if she can be Uncle Potluck’s apprentice, she’ll have important work to do during lunch and recess. Work that will keep her safely away from the other fifth graders. But when her custodial wisdom goes all wrong, Mattie’s plan comes crashing down. And only then does she begin to see how one small, brave act can lead to a friend who is hound dog true.

Hound Dog True was published in 2011 and while it is perhaps still available, here in Australia is very expensive so I hope you might find a copy in a school or public library or you could read, as I did, the ebook version. Either way I highly recommend this heartfelt story which continues to linger with me. Oh and I am not going to answer your lingering questions - why is he called Uncle Potluck (read chapter 25) and what exactly does hound dog true really mean? You need to read this book to discover this for yourself. And I do need to mention this is not a book about dogs.  Look below - Kirkus use the word OUTSTANDING in their review. 

I ached for Mattie. And now that the book is over, I wish I could spend more time with her. Jen Robinson

And I would add to this quote by Jen Robinson by saying I just wanted to find a sweet little mouse-shaped button to sew back onto Mattie's pyjamas. 

"Once there lived a button named Moe. Moe was a mouse-shaped button. He was stitched onto some pyjamas with strong thread. The pyjamas belonged to a girl. She was not strong. Sometimes at night she worried. When she worried she twisted Moe on his thread until she fell asleep. Moe did not mind. One night the girl could not fall asleep. The girl worried and worried. She twisted Moe for a long time. The next day the pyjamas went to the laundromat. Moe was in the washing machine. water flooded in. The other clothes pulled and tugged at him, and Moe's strong thread snapped. ... Moe was alone. He didn't yell for help. He knew he would never be heard. Moe was lost forever."

Uncle Potluck has such a unique voice:

"I shall have to watch myself now that I know you are recording our custodial endeavours for posterity."

"As I'm sure you are aware, great writing is a solitary pursuit."

"The gourmands of Mitchel P Andersen favour pizza, and it is the rare lunch tray that even has a crust left for disposal."

"Want to give this your janitorial scrutiny?"

"And it seems like maybe I ought to be the only one doing the saluting too. For propriety's sake."

"Accomplished with dexterity and finesse."

Combining Mattie’s poignant writing and interior monologue, exquisite character development and a slow, deliberate pace, Urban spins a story that rings true.  This outstanding, emotionally resonant effort will appeal to middle-grade readers. Kirkus Star review

The Button Box by Margarette S Reid illustrated by Sarah Chamberlain

Tuesday Treasure

I have a button jar. Inside are buttons collected by my Grandmother, my mother, and a few I have collected myself. I loved sorting the buttons when I was a child. Sometimes my mother and I would hunt for buttons to add to her sewing projects (my new clothes). Looking at an old button can bring a flood of memories.

I also enjoy books about sorting. All Teacher-Librarians love to make order out of chaos. sorting books into Dewey Decimal numbers is actually fun and it can be a little like sorting buttons into sizes, colour, styles and shapes.

Ben loves to play with the buttons in his grandmothers box. There are buttons with painted flowers and buttons that resemble jewels. Some are covered with cloth and others are made from leather. Ben and his grandmother play a game with the buttons and then Grandma explains the materials used to make buttons such as glass, horn, wood and seashells. 

On the final page of this book you can read more about the invention of buttons. No one knows who originally came up with the idea but archaeologists have found objects that look like buttons under cities built thousands of years ago.

This is a simple book but I found it a joy to read. The Button Box was first published in 1990 and amazingly it is still in print but even if you cannot find this book why not grab your own button collection and enjoy a little sorting and conversation with your young reading companion.

What to do with a box of old buttons may seem like a slight notion for a book (and it doesn't made much of a story), but this lightly fictionalised enumeration of the ways that buttons' variety can open windows on critical thinking should provide an inspiration to parents and teachers.  Kirkus

Here are some other picture books about and featuring buttons:

Nanna's Button Tin

Corduroy

A friend like Ed

Little Oleg

My friend at Kinderbookswitheverything has two posts celebrating buttons:

October Count your Buttons Day

November World Button Day

Corduroy by Don Freeman

Corduroy is one of my top five picture books and if you consider the hundreds and hundreds of picture books I have read over thirty three years as a Teacher-Librarian this is a fairly huge claim. There is an official Corduroy web site. Here is a wonderful set of discussion questions from the site Teaching Children Philosophy.

Why do I love Corduroy (1968) and the sequel A Pocket for Corduroy (1978)?

Corduroy
I love the eye contact between Lisa and Corduroy as she is led from the store by her mother. Kirkus call this poignant
I love the way Corduroy perseveres when he is looking for his missing button
I love the imagination of Corduroy - could the escalator be a mountain, could the furniture department be a palace
There is real tension when the night watchman discovers Corduroy hiding under the bed
I love that Lisa uses the money from her own piggy bank to pay for Corduroy
The final lines of the first book make me smile :

"You must be a friend,' said Corduroy. 'I've always wanted a friend.'
'Me too!' said Lisa, and she gave him a hug."

Corduroy the DVD/Video
There are so many joyous extras in the Western Woods film:
When Corduroy realises his button is missing he rubs the spot on his overalls just to check
Corduroy discovers a train in the toy department. He twists the 'button' and finds he is careering around the track at high speed
Up in the furniture department the night watchman nearly catches him. Luckily Corduroy places himself in a camping display complete with hat and fishing rod
Pulling off the mattress button the threads break one strand at a time creating wonderful anticipation
When Lisa sews on a new button she asks about his name and decides the name Corduroy will be perfect. Corduroy looks directly at the viewer and moves his head ever so slightly - a magic moment that always delights me.

A pocket for Corduroy
I love talking to the children about how laundromats work and linking this with another famous book Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
A random comment about checking pockets sets up a new mission for Corduroy to find one for himself
I love the way the artist customer rescues Corduroy and then he thoughtfully dries out his overalls. "He unbuttoned Corduroy's shoulder straps and put his overalls in the dryer ... Then he helped Corduroy put on his warm, dry overalls. ... Corduroy was gently placed on top of a washing machine."
I love the optimism of Corduroy when he is stranded in the laundromat
Again the final lines are to be treasured.
"Oh, Corduroy! Why didn't you tell me you wanted a pocket?' asked Lisa. ... (and) he and Lisa nuzzled noses."

My little Corduroy toy is also very precious to me.

Olive of Groves by Katrina Nannestad illustrated by Lucia Masciullo

He wanted her life to be sunshine and marigolds, fairy floss and pink lemonade, dancing tunes played on piano accordions and meadows full of frolicking lambs

Olive of Groves is a romp.  Reading this book is such a treat.  I smiled from page one through to page 260.  Some truly awful things happen to Olive (a couple of times I had to stop reading) but I knew I was in very good hands with Katrina Nannestad and that this gifted author would protect her heroine Olive.  Olive will survive. Olive will triumph. Goodness and kindness, patience and perseverance will defeat the evil school bully - Pig McKenzie.

Olive of Groves contains a huge cast of characters - each with special and sometimes dangerous talents.  There are eleven naughty boys.  Tiny Tim who never ever washes his socks, Reginald the butter spreader and Carlos an explosives expert.  There are eleven talking animals including three friendly rats - Wordsworth who loves his dictionary (I have quoted him at the top of this post), Blimp who loves to eat and Chester who collects and loves buttons.  Among the circus performers you will meet Anastasia, Eduardo and Alfonzo the most fabulous acrobats. Finally there is the school headmistress Mrs Groves "befuddled and bonkers" and Pig McKenzie "a pig of evil intent."

Olive arrives at her new school - Mrs Groves' Boarding School for Naughty Boys, Talking Animals and Circus Performers.

"Olive was ... a sensible and practical girl.  She ate peas with a spoon and folded her toast together like a sandwich so that if dropped, it could not land jam-side down; she wore her jet-back hair long enough to pull back into a ponytail, but short enough that it was easy to keep clean and tangle free; she kept small snacks under her pillow in case of midnight hunger pangs; and she arranged all her clothes in alphabetical order."

Can you see the problem?  How will Olive fit in to her new school?  She is a girl, not a boy or a talking animal. Her only course of action is to become a circus performer.  This will be difficult but Olive is determined to stay at Groves.  Mrs Groves tells Olive she can stay for one week on probation.  She is assigned her room and Mrs Groves quickly runs away because she is scared of girls!  When Olive finally reaches the turret Olive meets three very special rats. She sets out her possessions including her alarm clock and arranges her clothes in alphabetic order. After dinner Pig McKenzie visits her room.  He picks up her clock.  "Glass shattered and springs, coils, cogs, screws, hands, bells and other mysterious clockwork components exploded across the room."  This is the first of many horrid incidents involving the despicable pig.  Luckily her friends come to the rescue.  One of my favourite scenes comes the next day when these delightful little rats repair her clock.

"The newly assembled alarm clock was a truly amazing piece of engineering. ...The hands moved backwards in an anticlockwise direction, ... a chunk of cheese sat where the number eight used to be." In spite of this haphazard repair the clock and alarm still work.

One other little delightful touch in this book relates to the buttons.  Teachers could use this as a simple stimulus for writing.  Chester invents the most wonderful and fanciful stories to explain each button.

"I found this one down the back of the sofa in the library four weeks, two days and three hours ago.  It's from the Napoleonic Wars.  Fell off the Duke of Wellington's shirt during the Battle of Waterloo."

Here are some of the wonderful words in this book.  This is just a tiny sample :

esteemed
conflagration
rotund
robust
ricocheted
sauntered
cocooned
supplicated
malice
botulism
avowal


Pig McKenzie uses some hilarious names for Olive - her is another fun writing exercise - finding words beginning with a particular letter - here is it O.

Oblong
Ostrich
Octagon
October
Obligation


I loved The girl who bought Mischief and so I was delighted to see Katrina Nannestad had written another book.  Read an extract from Olive of Groves.  Once again I have found a book that is truly wonderful.  I recommend you rush into a library and grab this book today!  Make sure you read the chapter headings - they are part of the delight! I dare to hope this book will be short listed for our 2016 CBCA Book of the Year awards - fingers crossed.

Olive of Groves is an enchanting, entertaining and incredibly funny book, packed with imagination.  I love everything about this book, from the crazy antics to the wonderful characters.  I picked it up thinking that the blurb sounded intriguing and I fell in love with it from the very first page.