The Button War, Avi
The Button War, Avi
List: $28.99 | Sale: $20.29
Club: $14.49

The Button War
A Tale of the Great War

Author: Avi

Narrator: Will Ropp

Unabridged: 3 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 06/12/2018


Synopsis

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.

About Avi

Avi is one of the most celebrated authors writing for children today, having received two Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards, a Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, a Christopher Award, a Newbery Medal, and two Newbery Honors. He is the author of more than eighty books, including two short-story collections, What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything? and The Most Important Thing. Avi lives in Colorado.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jon on September 08, 2023

Why do people follow psychotic leaders who see others as only a means to an end? Time and time again we see this pattern - yet time and time again we see that there are always those who will board this ship of fools: and once onboard they will sail into a storm of violence and drown in blood. Patryk......more

Goodreads review by Josiah on March 16, 2019

Had he not won the 2003 Newbery Medal for Crispin: The Cross of Lead, and two Newbery Honors in the 1990s, Avi would still be noteworthy for his juvenile historical fiction. Outside of Scott O'Dell and a scattering of others, no author delved into obscure historical settings like Avi, creating accur......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on July 16, 2018

Raw, upsetting, little book about the outbreak of the first World War, as it effects a very, very small village in Poland. The boys in the village are at first more fascinated with a contest they've created: collecting the fancy buttons from different uniforms as different soldiers occupy their town......more

Goodreads review by Patty on June 10, 2018

Thank you to Netgalley, Candlewick Press and Avi for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Meet Patryk and his buddies. They live in a small rural town in Poland, surrounded by a large forest. Their village has one schoolhouse, one church, and one bridge that leads into town. The nearest city is m......more

Goodreads review by Mark on November 28, 2017

Jurek is a crazy idiot! The Russian soldiers have left our town, the Germans have moved in, and he thinks his button war is the most important thing in the world. He's challenged us to find the best button from a soldier's uniform, which is dangerous to do while they're still wearing it. I should ig......more