by Melissa A. Butler and Nicholas Hohman
This is a book to read again and again… a book of play, invention, and discovery… a book for families, educators, librarians, artists, meditators, and makers… a book to help you remember that:
a button is enough as it is, and you are enough as you are.
Juvenile Fiction | Picture Book | Imagination & Play Hardcover | 11 x 8.5 | 40 pages | | Ages 3-8 | $24.99 ISBN: 9781737257820
Questions? Email: info@inabutton.com
This is a book about a button.
It is also a book about noticing, wondering, and imagining.
Mostly it’s a book about you… the button you will find… and what might happen next.
in a button opens a wondrous space of curiosity and joy as readers are invited on a quiet, beautifully illustrated journey to ... notice, wonder, imagine, create, delight, and be with a single button.
The book’s artwork holds weight and energy that feels like a button itself, and slowly, with each page turn, you begin to hold your own expansiveness like a button in your hand.
The book has a light narrative structure that opens with a child who makes a discovery, then builds to involve readers in making their own imaginative discoveries, and returns to the quiet, creative self-sufficiency of the child.
Inside this story is a uniquely nuanced concept book. The illustrations shift in perspective, balance, and scale as they move between exacting realism and impressionistic brush work to mirror the fluidity of how a wandering mind notices size, shape, color, texture, and orientation alongside and overlapping with introspection, invention, memory, and dream.
A book to help you remember that a button is enough as it is, and you are enough as you are.
Reviews:
“IN A BUTTON holds a sweet nostalgia in images that make you notice – the different colors in the fibers of a knit sweater, the rainbows in our skin, the pattern in a road walked every day … that there is more to – not just a button – but a thread, a cobblestone, a braided rug. What a treat to accompany our protagonist and wonder about the journey of a button (and the button’s finder) guided by a voice that highlights the beauty and potential in what exists in our every day. By book’s end we find that a button is not just a button in the same way our story is not just a story, but a starting point for fostering curiosity and imagination.” -L. Esser, Parent
“What if the best use of a book takes place after a reader has closed its pages? IN A BUTTON leads you into a whole new way of noticing and treasuring the small, beautiful things around you, as if the universe left them intentionally – just for you. When I read it, my eyes and mind wander through its simple words and flowing images. After I put it down, I felt like I just allowed myself a deep long breath. Now I am ready to look around me and discover a new world. IN A BUTTON seems so simple for children to appreciate, yet it reaches so much more beyond simplistic for grown-ups.” -Junlei Li, Saul Zaentz Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
“IN A BUTTON invites readers to slow down, observe, and wonder – how does a button feel in your hand? What does it know? What stories can a button inspire? With each turn of the page, I felt my breath and body relax, my heart and mind grow quiet. Butler’s soothing, thoughtful text pairs with Hohman’s magical illustrations to create a mindful exploration of all we can notice when we pause to consider small, ordinary things – like buttons!” -Dianne White, Author of GREEN on GREEN and other books for children
“Melissa Butler is a master educator who inspired her students to notice and wonder, about everything – including buttons! In this delightful book, illustrated magnificently by Nicholas Hohman, the magical Ms. Butler is at it again – plainly showing how we might take a simple thing and make it something marvelous.” -Gregg Behr, Co-author, When You Wonder, You’re Learning: Mister Rogers’ Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids
“As I read IN A BUTTON, I wanted to pull my young listeners closer to my lap. It's that kind of book. The mindful, poetic text and richly detailed illustrations make an experience meant to be shared again and again. With each sentence I was compelled to linger, look closely, and notice a new curious detail before turning the page. Certainly, IN A BUTTON is a picture book to savor.” -Miss Cindy, Early Childhood Educator, Grandmother
“Slowing down… looking carefully… wondering about what has happened… dreaming about what is to come… it is amazing what a button can inspire. IN A BUTTON is a beautiful book that encourages all of us – young and maybe not-so young – to give time to the simplicity of noticing, the depth of wondering, and the vastness of imagination.” -Dana Winters, PhD, Rita McGinley Chair of Early Learning and Children’s Media, Saint Vincent College
“This simply written and beautifully illustrated picture book shows the importance of slowing down and looking closer. Readers of all ages will be inspired to find a quiet moment and a button of their own to explore.” -Renata Capozzoli, Kindergarten teacher
“A button collection can be a rainbow, or a comparison of sizes and shapes, or pieces of a story. Exploring a singular button can be the beginning of a conversation about observation and noticing. Exploring two buttons can be a conversation about interactions. Exploring a collection of buttons can be the opportunity to imagine, discover, and create. Melissa A. Butler and Nicholas Hohman ask the reader to look at the ordinary and ask if it really is so ordinary. IN A BUTTON is a beautiful reminder that there is always something more to notice.” -Katie Koffler, Artist, Educator, and button collector
“The writing is quiet and in its own way invites us to slow down, with subtle rhyme easing the reader into a comfortable space. Wouldn’t spending some slow, comfortable time contemplating buttons improve our lives?” -Jay Brazeau, Poet & recent button-contemplation convert
“Noticing carefully and deeply is the foundation of all disciplines. IN A BUTTON models exactly how to form this habit with children. Beautifully paced, with engaging illustrations, this book will deepen curiosity and excite exploration for its readers.” -Sally Rushford, Former Principal
“IN A BUTTON encourages readers to... Slow down. Look closely. Notice. And then expand out in imagination. It is an engaging, charming and soothing introduction to contemplation.” -Joan Riordan, Author, Educator
“The illustrations make me feel as though I could pluck a button straight from the page.” -Jon David Russell, Artist
