ela no Renowned, award-winning author Avi pens a stark, unflinching tale of ordinary boys living in wartime as tensions — and desperations — mount among them. THE BUTTON WAR AVI Twelve-year-old Patryk knows little of the world beyond his tiny Polish village; CS MRSC eS CeCe Corer ne nec sad otherwise life is unremarkable. Patryk and his friends entertain themselves by Cee RR een ee tice tener citar tecmen le terres CER oe ene CONGR eM I ee mec Ont met OO RUe CA CEC Oke CUC er u ioe ito ates dcr ceo RC COR OCU eR aN aman eslicled CaaS hem eet cca Cres cress Titre ect ag progresses to looting the bodies of dead soldiers—and as Jurek’s obsession SE nee cneaece eee oer a eee Ree emt eran Pas He Ce wc CRN CO COcU Ome Mantra loc ts ents ttt Pee encom re an ec mrss trae rcer acral terterrtnt sg callous Jurek. Master of historical fiction Avi delivers a fierce account of the Oe eer n ance econ tt Cmca er ees em) Brit CRTC ays HORCL Mec mun ae eee oS RPT len mea ee SEC ee Ree ed RICKI SBC Les OR CELL eyAV L ispart ofa family of writers extending back into the nineteenth century, Born in 1937 and raised in New York City, Avi was educated in local schools before going to the Midwest and then back to NYC to complete his education, He started out as a playwright while working for many years as a librarian. He began writing books for young people when the first of his kids came along. His first book was published in 1970. Since then he has published more than seventy books and won many awards, including the Newbery Medal, two Newbery Honors, two Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, a Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and many children’s choice awards. Avi frequently travels to schools around the country to talk to his readers. Among his most popular books are Crispin: The Cross of Lead, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Nothing But the Truth, the Poppy books, Midnight Magic, and ‘The Fighting Ground. His previous books with Candlewick Press include What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything? and ‘The Most Important Thing: Stories About Sons, Fathers, and Grandfathers. Avi lives in Clark, Colorado, with his wife.A NOTE FROM AVI Many years ago, when my late father-in-law observed my young kids collecting baseball cards, he recalled growing up in Eastern Europe, when he and his friends collected (stole) uniform buttons from the ever-changing armies that passed through his village during World War I. That long-ago vignette was the basis for this book. I think of this book as very different from my other books. Perhaps this will help to explain: When Graham Greene wrote the film script for The Third Man (one of my favorite movies), he wrote it as a narrative. It was published that way and may be read as a novella. To some degree, I think of The Button War as a movie script, insofar that as I wrote I tried to visualize the book every bit of the way. (Usually I hear my books as I write.) A movie was not my intent, but in the sense that The Third Man was a movie script/novella, so too is The Button War. Part of my research for this book was to look at many photographs of World War I. Newsreels too. I saw the boys as a real group. Watched them interact. Saw the world in which they lived —and its gradual destruction. Moreover, I began to purchase the buttons (eBay!) and found them fascinating, In short, this is a very real book to me. In another Greene book, Our Man in Havana, he, for me, sums up what The Button War is: “Childhood was the germ of all mistrust. You were cruelly joked upon and then you cruelly joked. You lost the remembrance of pain through inflicting it”#buttonwar Buttons purchased by Avi for research“Avi is a master of just about anything he writes.” —BookPage “Avi is one of our most versatile and prolific children’s writers.” —Booklist “A superb craftsmat —2003 Newbery Award Selection Committee ALSO BY AVI ‘The Most Important Thing What Do Fish Have to Do With HC: 978-0-7636-8111-1 Anything? Also available as an e-book and in audio PB: 978-0-7636-2319-7 $16.99 ($23.00 CAN) Also available as an e-book ‘Age 10 and up + 224 pages $6.99 ($8.00 CAN) A Junior Library Guild Selection ‘Age 10 and up + 208 pages * “Avi’s deft incorporation of humor, heartache, and the occasional touch of the supernatural will draw readers in.” — Publishers Weekly starred review) CANDLEWICK PRESS ‘www.candlewick.com