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Shop nowThe Curse of the Buttons
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Learn more"'Eleven is not too young for war,' Ike said to Barfoot, who swished his tail agreeably, then lumbered to the yard table and stuck his nose in an unattended pie."
When a steamboat arrives heralding the news that Iowa has been called up to represent the Union of the United States of America, Ike is beside himself with excitement. For months, the promise of war has enveloped small-town Keokuk like a grand game that everyone's in on—everyone but Ike, his swaybacked pony, and his best friend and checkers partner, Albirdie. Left behind with Mother and the aunts and girl cousins while the Button men march forth toward glory, Ike's fate is sealed. Unless he can call on the ingenuity of his fabled (some say cursed) ancestor—the adventuresome Uncle Palmer—seek passage to Missouri disguised as a drummer boy, and meet up with the Iowa First, that is. But some opportunities are meant to be missed. And some arrive when you least expect them.
Anne Ylvisaker is the author of Dear Papa, which Booklist named a Top Ten First Novel for Youth; Little Klein, a Book Sense Children’s Pick and winner of numerous awards, including the Midwest Booksellers’ Choice Award; The Luck of the Buttons, an Indie Next List Selection; and its sequel, Button Down. About The Curse of the Buttons, the third book to feature the Button family, she says, “Years ago my imagination was ignited by the name on a Civil War–era tombstone that I misread as ‘Tugs Button.’ The drummer boy story I tried to write turned into one about a girl who decides to become the first lucky person in her family. I tried again and got a story about a boy, his grandfather, and football. ‘The war is a story for another time,’ Granddaddy Ike tells Ned in Button Down, but that time never comes. Until now. The Curse of the Buttons completes the Button saga, but is it the first book or the last? I’ll let you decide.”