The Memory String

August 21, 2000
Resentful of her new stepmother, Laura clings to a family heirloom, a "memory string" of buttons taken from special garments. As her father and her stepmother, Jane, paint the porch, Laura sits apart and fingers each button, loudly telling her cat about her great-grandmother's first "grown-up dress," her father's Gulf War service uniform and, last, the nightgown her mother was wearing when she died. Bunting's (Smoky Night) prose is as sure-footed as ever, but is much encumbered here by a contrived plot that has Laura losing the buttons and the family coming together in the search for them. A rapprochement between Laura and Jane, who finds the final missing button, is all but inevitable. Even Rand's (Baby in a Basket) light-dappled watercolors can't rescue the story from its didactic intent; this is likelier to engage adults looking for books that address a particular subject (such as stepparenting) than children. Ages 5-8.

August 4, 2000
K-Gr 3-Within hearing of her new stepmother, Laura meanly recounts to her disinterested cat what each button on her memory string means. There's one from her great-grandmother's first grown-up dress, another from her mother's wedding dress, and one from the nightgown the woman was wearing when she died three years ago. When the impatient feline jumps away, breaking the string, the buttons fly everywhere. Laura's father and Jane help find all but one of them, but the girl is inconsolable. In the night, she hears them debating about whether to cut an identical button from her father's military uniform. Jane insists, "Laura would rather have that button missing than have a replacement-It's like a mother. No substitute allowed." She finds the lost item with a flashlight and she puts it on the porch where Laura can see it without being offended by the finder. However, in the morning the child has had a change of heart and asks Jane's help in restringing the beads. Rand's oversized, light-dappled watercolor pictures show the love and loyalty between the father and his new wife and their love for the prickly and still-grieving Laura. Bunting trusts readers to interpret behavior and understand complex emotions without her having to provide a moral or dramatic ending. Instead, the story offers a hopeful beginning and invites readers to think about ways to remember family history-including making one's own button memory string.-Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA

Copyright 2000 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2000
Ages 5^-8. It's hard to accept a stepmother, especially when your own mother has died. As Laura watches her father and her stepmother, Jane, paint the porch of their new home, she begins loudly telling her cat about her treasured memory string of buttons. There's one from her great-grandmother's first "grown-up" dress, one from her mother's wedding gown, and most precious to her mother, a button snipped off Laura's father's uniform when he came home from the Gulf War. It is this button that goes missing when the cat breaks the string and the buttons scatter. Then, during a late-night search, Jane finds the uniform button. Laura overhears the knowing Jane say it would be best if the button reappeared as a gift from a good fairy. Now, Laura is ready to begin to accept Jane. This is pure bibliotherapy--Jane helps locate the buttons, but knows when to pull back. The earnestness, however, is balanced with tenderness, and Rand's realistic artwork concentrates on the faces of the family and the emotions that cross them. Some children will find this touches them very deeply. ((Reviewed August 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)