The Button War: A Tale of the Great War

Renowned, award-winning author Avi pens a stark, unflinching tale of ordinary boys living in wartime as tensions -- and desperations -- mount among them.

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. Patryk and his friends entertain themselves by coming up with dares -- some more harmful than others -- until the Germans drop a bomb on the schoolhouse and the Great War comes crashing in. 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 finest military button will be king. But as sneaking buttons from uniforms hanging to dry progresses to looting the bodies of dead soldiers -- and as Jurek's obsession with being king escalates -- Patryk begins to wonder whether their "button war" is still just a game. When devastation reaches their doorstep, the lines between the button war and the real war blur, especially for the increasingly callous Jurek. Master of historical fiction Avi delivers 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.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
Published: 06/12/2018
ISBN: 9780763690533
Pages: 240
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 7.80h x 5.40w x 1.00d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 04/09/2018
Booklist 04/15/2018 pg. 58
Kirkus Reviews 04/15/2018
School Library Journal 05/01/2018 pg. 79
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 06/01/2018
Horn Book Magazine 09/01/2018 pg. 75
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2019 - Superior,Well Above Average

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 195061 / Button War
Reading Level: 3.9 / Interest Level: Middle Grade / Point Value: 6