Buttons

by Brock Cole

Book Overview

Brock Cole's first picture book in nearly ten years Once there was an old man who ate so much his britches burst and his buttons popped one, two, three, into the fire. "Wife! Wife!" he cried. "We are undone! My britches have burst and my buttons are burnt, every one! After putting her husband to bed, the wife enlists the aid of her three daughters in replacing their father's buttons. The eldest promises to find a rich man who will give her buttons...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374310017
• ISBN13: 9780374310011
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 10.3" x 9.8"
• Age Range: 5 to 10 years
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 5

Customer Reviews

Wonderful story--and David Hyde Pierce's voice is perfect!

My 3 1/2 year old daughter can't get enough of this book. The story and illustrations are wonderful. Lots of "big words" to explain and provoke conversations about. DHP's narrations is sublime! He captures the daughters' antics beautifully. It's a lovely, funny, sweet book for all ages. I love reading and listening to it (as does my 6-year old).

Great for older children

This original fairy tale reads like a classic. The story is funny, and the illustrations support this humourous tone. There is plenty of detail in the pictures for older children to pore over. I would recommend this for 1st graders and up.

An Old Fashioned Fairy Tale

Brock Cole's, Buttons, begins...Once upon a time and after a very silly, funny, satisfying story, has a happily ever after, ending. Buttons will delight children of every age, as three daughters are sent out into the world, by their mother, to find new buttons for their father's trousers. Mr. Cole's beautiful water color illustrations add just the right old fashioned touch to this story. The perfect bedtime story for your little ones. Read and enjoy!

Thank heavens he's back!

Brock Cole began his career as author and illustrator of a number of lovely, marginally goofy picture books, illuminated with his own careful, exuberant watercolors. Mr. Cole took a break from picture book publishing to concentrate on chapter books for older kids (not that we mind - all 3 of his novels are themselves extraordinary achievements) but has returned with _Buttons_, his first picture book for more than a decade. This _Buttons_ is a particularly fetching send up of the fairy tale genre, replete with nobles, simpletons, paupers and princes, and blessedly full of Mr. Cole's sweet, ironic sensibilities. Let us hope that with his paintbrush freshly wetted Brock Cole will again decorate our bookshelves with a succession of similar charmers.