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The Silver Button

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The Silver Button
by Bob Graham
Candlewick, 2013.  Unpaged.  Picture Book

     The first thing you need to know about Bob Graham's new book is that the story starts at precisely 9:59 on a Thursday morning on the page before the title page, where Jodie is about to put the finishing touch on her picture of a duck--a silver button on his boot. Just at that moment her younger brother Jonathan manages to stand up and take his first step. In that same moment her mother begins to play "Merrily Kiss the Quaker's Wife" on her pennywhistle.  Outside Joseph Pascano is avoiding the cracks in the sidewalk so he won't be eaten by sharks, an ambulance goes by, and a blackbird finds a worm. In this lovely picture book, Bob Graham shares all the kinds of life that happen in a moment, in the house, in the neighborhood, in the city. Shortly before the clock strikes ten, Jonathan's mom hugs her newly-ambulatory little boy, and right at 10:00, Jodie puts the last silver button on her duck picture. A lively book about life itself, The Silver Button enhances Bob Graham's place as one of the premiere author/illustrators of our time.

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