Home |Register |Sign In Home Top Picks: All Books The Button War The Button War A Tale of the Great War by Avi Price: $16.99 (Hardcover) Published: June 12, 2018 Rating: 0.0/ 5 (0 votes cast) From the Publisher: Renowned, award-winning author Avi pens a stark, unflinching tale of ordinary boys living in wartime as tensions — anddesperations — mount among them.</p><p> Twelve-year-old Patryk knows little of the world beyond his tiny Polish village; the Russians have occupied the land for as long as anyone can remember, but otherwise life is unremarkable.</p><p> Patryk and his friends entertain themselves by coming upwith dares — some more harmful than others — until the Germans drop abomb on the schoolhouse and the Great War comes crashing in.</p><p> As control of the village falls from one nation to another, Jurek, the ringleader of these friends, devises the best dare yet: whichever boy steals the finestmilitary button will be king.</p><p> But as sneaking buttons from uniformshanging to dry progresses to looting the bodies of dead soldiers — and asJurek’s obsession with being king escalates — Patryk begins to wonder whether their “button war” is still just a game.</p><p> When devastation reaches their doorstep, the lines between the button war and the real war blur,especially for the increasingly callous Jurek.</p><p> Master of historical fiction Avidelivers a fierce account of the boys of one war-torn village who are determined to prove themselves with a simple dare that spins disastrously out of control.</p><p> Rate This Book Add To Wishlist |Rate/Review Add To Bookshelf Get This Book Personalize / Add More ChoicesGo to your preferred retailer, click to choose a format and you' ll be taken directly to their site where you can get this book.</p><p> What We Say Avi rarely fails to satisfy on the level of pure storytelling and this fable-like novel about young boys in a small Polish village is no exception.</p><p> Like most of their parents, the group of five or so lads are indifferent or ignorant or simply unable to paymuch attention to the outside world of 1914, which is approaching world war.</p><p> They barely know what's over the next hill, much less geopolitics.</p><p> What they do know is that the Russian soldiers in their midst are getting ready to leave.Share This Book About The Author Avi Avi is one of the most celebrated authors writing for children today, having receivedtwo Boston Globe –Horn Book Awards, a Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, aChristopher Award, a Newbery Medal, andtwo Newbery Honors.</p><p> He lives in Colorado.</p><p> Release Info List Price: $16.99 (Hardcover) Published: June 12, 2018 Publisher: Candlewick Pages: 240 ISBN 10: 0763690538 ISBN 13: 9780763690533Unintentionally, it proves the perfect time to launch a "dare." Jurek is always looking for ways to lord it over the others and his latest scheme is irresistible: steal a button from the uniform of a Russian soldier and whomever gets the "best"button (fancier uniforms have fancier buttons) wins and gets to be king.</p><p> Twelve year old Patryk is maybe Jurek's best friend.</p><p> But Jurek can be a pain and Patryk spends half his time trying to talk everyone out of Jurek's schemes and the other half of the time trying to win them.</p><p> Avi captures well the foolish dynamic of children, where a simple dare becomes anunendurable taunt and you simply HAVE to do something stupid you really know you shouldn't.</p><p> War isn't creeping closer somuch as rushing in.</p><p> First an aeroplane (a thing the boys have never seen or really even imagined) drops a bomb on their school.</p><p> Later, soldiers beat one of the boys near to death for daring to take a button and then things get worse and worse and worse. "The Button War" echoes "The Chocolate War" and "Lord Of The Flies" as violence grows and the insanity keepspace.</p><p> Simple but grim, it has an unrelenting tone that lets you know from the start things won't turn out well.</p><p> While adultsmight feel the finale is a tad forced (Avi has done better), it has an elemental power and kids who haven't read or seenother similar descents into nightmare may be gobsmacked.</p><p> A solid entry. -- Michael Giltz What Others Say Told from Patryk’s point of view, the novel captures the ways that war can forever alter a child’s sense of order, morality, and security in the world.</p><p> Strongly visual scenes, including the smoky forest after battle, thesoldiers marching in perfect formation, and a chilling final image of Jurek, will long resonate in readers’ minds.—Publishers Weekly (starred review) ”Reminiscent of Slaughterhouse-Five and Lord of the Flies , Avi’s The Button War is an important and honest book that crowns no heroes.</p><p> Instead, it shines a light on how easily we believe what we want to believe, confusing dictators for leaders and ignoring our own best selves in the process.</p><p> If children are to understand the world’s problems, they need to face them—and their own motives—with clear eyes and open minds.</p><p> The Button War will help them do that.</p><p> But it is a cautionary tale that will surely provoke introspection in readers of all ages and help us see how to evolve beyond our primitive thirst for power and glory.” —Lauren E.</p><p> Wolk, author of Wolf Hollow, a Newbery Honor Book, and Beyond the Bright Sea Avi has written a compelling and tautly constructed book that is a portal to grappling with the complexity of the human instinct to compete.</p><p> Highly recommended.—School Library Journal Although some readers will simply hang on the drama of Avi’s simple and unnervingly tense plot, most will recognize this as a powerful anti-war allegory...The final scene in which “winner” Jurek crows in triumph that he’s “Jurek the Brave! King of everything!” over a ruined and emptying village hauntingly exposes the universalvacuity of bullies and their enablers, whether in middle-school hallways or on a battlefield.—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books The award- winning Avi has turned in another solid performance, bringing history alive with a clever plot, a powerful, anti-war theme, and characters as memorable as his story.—Booklist Fans of The Lord of the Flies and readers ready to plumb ambiguity will respond to the dark themes...Bleakly demonstrates that war, no matter its scale, is devastating. —Kirkus Reviews What You Say Filter by No Reviews Found ..... about us |faq|advertise |privacy policy |newsletter |contact us ©2018, BookBuddha LLc.</p><p> All Rights Reserved.
