Button Down

by Anne Ylvisaker

Overview

As football fever hits Goodhue, Iowa, Ned Button steps into the lineup in a funny new adventure about a small-town family living in 1929.

Ever since local boy Lester Ward got drafted by the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, Tugs Button’s scrawny cousin Ned can think of nothing but football. Sure, Lester’s younger bully of a brother is determined to keep Ned and his gang from ever getting near a real pickup game. But Ned has a few things going for him: he can catch and sometimes even throw, much to his surprise. And he’s got his eccentric grandpa Ike, who may have less get-up-and-go these days, but no shortage of down-home wisdom to pass along-like that being a football star is less about being big and more about playing as a team and honing your strategy, and that having friends and family in your corner is a bigger prize than a lucky football will ever be. From the author of The Luck of the Buttons comes another story about a sometimes hapless, always winning family that scores big points for humor and heart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763662073
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	09/25/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Anne Ylvisaker is the author of The Luck of the Buttons as well as Dear Papa and Little Klein. Formerly of Iowa and Minnesota, Anne Ylvisaker now lives in California.

I learned to read on a Wednesday. I was in first grade and my friends and I were working through our early reader with Mrs. Covart. I liked the orderly look of words on the page but just mouthed along with the other kids because to me, words looked like squiggles on a page. Then one day after calendar time, we opened our books and read aloud together as usual, running our fingers under the words, and the word father popped out at me. I looked at the word and it connected with a picture in my head. Then other words made the pictures keep rolling: mother, dog, brother, sister, house. I was a reader.

Soon after, my family took a road trip and my mother gave each of us kids a notebook to keep us busy in the back seat. I recorded details from each part of the trip — mostly how far we drove and what everyone ate. We sent postcards to grandparents, describing where we were and what we saw. I was a writer.

Reading and writing are still two of my favorite activities. And stories to me are still about pictures. I pore over old photographs when I’m coming up with ideas, and I keep a wall of photographs and art postcards in my office while I’m working on a story. Pictures help me imagine characters and settings.

A while back I was looking at an old family photograph of a group of people sitting on a rickety porch with chickens running around at their feet. Who was standing behind the camera, I wondered, and what prompted them to take a picture of that scene? A spunky girl named Tugs Button showed up in my imagination, ready to tell the tale of her unlucky family and what she aimed to make of her summer, and The Luck of the Buttons was launched.

Three Things You Might Not Know About Me:

1. My first favorite book was Pickle Chiffon Pie by Jolly Roger Bradfield.

2. Each of my novels got their start because I made a mistake.

3. I love real mail. I try to send a letter or postcard every day.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Those who were happily immersed in the small-town comedy and drama in Ylvisaker’s Buttons debut will settle right back into the leisurely rhythm of Goodhue, Iowa.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3–5—Ned Button has football fever, especially since local boy Lester Ward gets drafted for the Iowa University Hawkeyes. When Ned catches Lester's pass thrown from his departing train, he is thrilled. Just as quickly as it comes, the ball is snatched away by Lester's bully of a brother, Burton. Ned is left empty-handed watching Burton "peacocking" around his friends. Although scrawny for an 11-year-old and no match for Burton's bulk, Ned is determined to get the ball back. And he knows just the person to help him-his Granddaddy Ike. Ned strikes a bargain with Burton to get their teams together and play a game. The winner gets the ball. Ylvisaker has returned to the "down on their luck" Button family she introduced in The Luck of the Buttons (Candlewick, 2011) with the introduction of Ned. She uses the "good old days" charm and innocence as well as common sense and Granddaddy's wisdom to confront the universal issue of bullying. At the same time, the author conveys the importance of a supportive family and loyal friends.D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH

School Library Journal

Short chapters, simple yet meticulous language, a wholesome feel and the universal story of a boy with a dream combine to give this one widespread appeal.
—Kirkus Reviews

Those who were happily immersed in the small-town comedy and drama in Ylvisaker’s Buttons debut will settle right back into the leisurely rhythm of Goodhue, Iowa.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Ylvisaker has returned to the “down on their luck” Button family she introduced in The Luck of the Buttons (Candlewick, 2011) with the introduction of Ned. She uses the “good old days” charm and innocence as well as common sense and Granddaddy’s wisdom to confront the universal issue of bullying. At the same time, the author conveys the importance of a supportive family and loyal friends
—School Library Journal

This book provides a great opportunity to introduce sports fans to historical fiction.
—Library Media Connection

From the Publisher

Anne Ylvisaker’s Button family is back. It’s 1929, and Goodhue, Iowa, is abuzz over the opening of the new University of Iowa football stadium and a hometown hero. This time the spotlight is on football- loving Ned and Grandfather Ike. While Ned is desperate to win back a football he feels is rightly his, Grandpa is set on teaching him strategy for the game (and for life). Narrator Sanjiv Jhaveri sets a purposeful pace. He uses pauses to dramatically underscore the football highlights as Ned and his buddies practice plays for the elusive pickup game whose prize is a pigskin football. Jhaveri’s Ned is doggedly determined to right injustice; his friends, predictably youthful. The voice of Jhaveri’s grandfather has a raspy, drawn-out sound that manages to pack just enough oomph when a vital point is needed. A.R. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2012 - AudioFile

Ylvisaker (The Luck of the Buttons, 2011) returns to the lovably unlucky Button family, this time with a gentle story about 11-year-old Ned and his love of football. When local legend-in-the-making Lester Ward goes off to play football for the University of Iowa, he tosses his old football into an eager pack of boys, and surprise of surprises, it is caught by scrawny Ned Button. But when Lester's younger brother Burton steals the ball away, Ned and his friends are ostracized and reduced to playing with a newspaper-and-twine football on the sidelines. That is, until Granddaddy Ike gets involved. He convinces the group of ragtag youth that football is more about strategy than size, teaching them plays to run against the bigger, tougher boys. And despite a failing heart, Granddaddy arranges to make one of Ned's dreams--attending a game at the University of Iowa--come true. The precise historical setting--tiny Goodhue, Iowa, in 1929--is not central to this story, though it's carefully drawn. It could happen anyplace where bullies do nothing worse than steal footballs and a grandfather's advice and love are enough to make a kid feel like he can take on the world. Short chapters, simple yet meticulous language, a wholesome feel and the universal story of a boy with a dream combine to give this one widespread appeal. (Historical fiction. 8-11)

Kirkus Reviews