Book Descriptions
for The Silver Button by Bob Graham
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
With elegant mastery, author/illustrator Bob Graham suspends a single moment in time across almost the entire thirty-two pages of this picture book. As Jodie is about to add the final button to the duck's boot in her drawing, her little brother Jonathan pushes himself up. "He swayed, he frowned, he tilted forward ... and took his first step." As Jonathan takes that step, other things are happening all over town. In the next room, the children's mother plays her penny whistle. A pigeon nests under the roof outside, and one of its feathers floats gently past the window. A jogger passes by on the sidewalk, an ambulance on the street. One block away, "a soldier said good-bye to his mom." In the park, Sophie and her granddad made a house of leaves. At Mercy Hospital, a baby was born. Graham offers a wider and wider angle on a moment that is both monumental and ordinary, and then pulls the focus tight again: "Then down came Jonathan on his little pink knees." Carefully chosen details and wonderful pacing distinguish the thoughtful narrative, while Graham's warm, lively illustrations are full of tenderness and whimsy. Highly Commended, 2014 Charlotte Zolotow Award (Ages 3-6)
CCBC Choices 2014. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2014. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
At the same moment that Jodie’s baby brother takes his first step, a city’s worth of moments unfold in a masterful picture book from Bob Graham.
At 9:59 on a Thursday morning, Jodie draws a duck. As her pen hovers in the air, ready to add a silver button to the duck’s boot, her little brother Jonathan pushes to his feet, sways, and takes his first step. At the exact same moment, their mom plays a pennywhistle in the kitchen, a man buys fresh bread at the bakery, a baby is born, a soldier says good-bye to his mom, a granddad and granddaughter play with leaves in the park, a blackbird finds a worm. . . . From an ordinary scene of an apartment strewn with child’s artwork and toys to a bird’s-eye view of a city morning pulsing with life, Bob Graham celebrates a whole world-vision in a single moment, encouraging readers to stop, observe, and savor the world around them.
At 9:59 on a Thursday morning, Jodie draws a duck. As her pen hovers in the air, ready to add a silver button to the duck’s boot, her little brother Jonathan pushes to his feet, sways, and takes his first step. At the exact same moment, their mom plays a pennywhistle in the kitchen, a man buys fresh bread at the bakery, a baby is born, a soldier says good-bye to his mom, a granddad and granddaughter play with leaves in the park, a blackbird finds a worm. . . . From an ordinary scene of an apartment strewn with child’s artwork and toys to a bird’s-eye view of a city morning pulsing with life, Bob Graham celebrates a whole world-vision in a single moment, encouraging readers to stop, observe, and savor the world around them.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.
