The Button Book

November 15, 2019
This picture book plays on the universal temptation to push buttons. A squirrel--presumably the first-person narrator of the book--finds a large, round, red button and wonders what would happen when it's pressed. The squirrel presses the button, and a large rubber horn pops up and honks: "Beep!" The sound attracts a bird and a dog, and together the three come across a triangular orange button. "What does the orange button do?" they wonder, and they discover that it causes them all to clap. As the picture book progresses, other animals--including an elephant, a tortoise, a deer, and a small dinosaur--join the trio, and together they come across and press a giant hexagonal blue button, a round green button, a yellow button (literally--it looks as though it's come off a coat), a square pink button, and a small purple button that can only be reached by climbing a ladder. Each of the buttons makes the friends do something different, from singing and bouncing to blowing raspberries. British writer Nicholls' simple, silly narrative and Woollvin's colorfully childlike illustrations result in a fun picture book that incorporates shapes and colors and that can be used at home and in libraries and classrooms. Pages are dominated by gray with accents--including the animals' fur and feathers--changing to match the color of each button. Should have readers and caregivers singing, clapping, and bouncing along. (Picture book. 3-6)

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December 1, 2019
Preschool-K Each spread in this interactive picture book offers a button for young readers?along with a handful of animal characters?to push, prompting one of various classic activities: singing, bouncing, hugging, blowing raspberries. Each button is made distinct by a specific setting and palette, with Woollvin (Little Red, 2016)?an exceptional colorist?utilizing one hue at a time to highlight her black-and-gray illustrations, which makes for dynamic visuals as the pages go by (and offers a color primer to the littlest ones). In a clever turn, after a round of colors has passed, the characters, desperate to escape the purple button (tickling!), return to the initial buttons, creating a nonlinear experience that encourages young readers to navigate openly by seeking out their favorite buttons and repeating favorite games. This gives an autonomy to the experience that could mean endless fun?but don't worry, parents; the final button is the blessed, white sleeping button, and when the kiddo is ready, Nicholls makes sure that it all ends with a well-earned goodnight.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)