The Friendship War

October 29, 2018
In the latest on-point school story by Clements (The Losers Club), compulsive collector Grace is thrilled when her grandfather says she can keep the 27 boxes of buttons she discovers in his old mill. But after she shares some of the cache with her classmates, the show-and-tell spirals out of control, and kids schoolwide become obsessed with collecting and trading buttons. A math and science whiz, Grace becomes fixated on “collecting data” by counting the buttons on all her schoolmates’ clothing, and eventually comes to the obvious conclusion that she and her peers have contracted “button fever.” Though painstaking details of button swapping weigh down the narrative, Clements uses the over-the-top fad as a conduit to explore more substantial themes, including Grace’s conflicted feelings about her superficial, know-it-all best friend; her deepening friendship with an insightful boy; and her affecting bond with her grandfather, who, like her, is mourning his wife’s death. Regretting the frenzy she instigated, Grace applies the theory of supply and demand in a bold move to end it, precipitating a rewarding finale that underscores the value of friends and family—and wryly reveals the limitations of the scientific method. Ages 8–12. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House.

November 1, 2018
Clements draws on his memory of classroom fads for this newest exploration of sixth-grade politics.Grace likes to collect things. When her grandfather takes her around the old New England mill he's bought, she decides to add the dozens of boxes of buttons she finds there to her already-cluttered room. "I have a theory about why I collect so many things," Grace adds intriguingly, but this motivation is never satisfyingly revealed. Described as "pretty," she prefers scientific observation to trips to the mall and is slowly realizing the ways that her best friend, Ellie, who's also "pretty," makes her feel inadequate and unsupported. When Grace brings a handful of buttons to school as part of a social studies unit on the Industrial Revolution, other kids become inexplicably fascinated by them, and soon their school is overcome by a button craze reminiscent of the 17th-century Dutch tulip bubble or, more recently, Pogs. As trading and hoarding reach a fever pitch, Grace tries to navigate the destruction of one friendship, the start of another, and her own place in the middle school hierarchy. The button craze keeps the story tripping along, but somewhat broad characterizations and relatively low stakes--not to mention a perfectly neat ending--do not. Grace goes to an Illinois school where no one is identified racially, but all faces on the cover present white.A readable but essentially inconsequential addition to Clements' oeuvre. (Fiction. 8-12)

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November 15, 2018
Grades 3-6 A girl accidentally starts a school fad, causing a rift with her best friend, in this latest novel from Clements. Grace loves collecting interesting things, so when she visits an old mill with her grandfather, she becomes the proud owner of boxes and boxes of vintage buttons. The buttons are a hit at school, and when Grace's classmates start bringing their own buttons to trade, a button craze is born. Grace likes the fad, especially since it leads to a new friendship with smart, inquisitive Hank. But it also causes a feud with her best friend Ellie, who can't stand that Grace can out-trade her for the best buttons. Grace must deal with button fever and fix her friendship. The funny, science-loving Grace is an endearing narrator?just the right person to document the strange but creative ways her classmates' button obsession flourishes. The buttons could stand in for any number of middle-school fads, but they carry the extra poignancy of forgotten objects given new life. A fun, charming story about fads and the friendships that outlast them.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2019
A button war ensues after sixth grader Grace acquires boxes of old buttons and Grace's classmates create a burgeoning button economy. In a scene that's a model of friendship dynamics and of how wars get started, things get ugly when Grace snares a particularly attractive button her bossy best friend wants. Clements knows the appeal of digging into details, and he's not afraid to engage characters in abstract thinking.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2019
You know this novel was once upon a time going to be called The Button War, but was beaten to it by a very different novel from Avi (rev. 9/18). But a button war is exactly what ensues when sixth grader Grace acquires boxes and boxes (and boxes) of old buttons courtesy of her grandfather, restoring an old factory building. At first, of course, it's all fun and games as Grace's classmates create a burgeoning economy in buttons, whether acquired from Grace or brought from home, with trading becoming sophisticated and subject to perceived rarity and?even in the course of a week!??shifting tastes. Things get ugly for Grace when she manages to snare a particularly attractive button her bossy best friend wants for herself, in a scene that is not only a model of friendship dynamics but of how wars get started: But right now the main fact is, I have the pinwheel button clamped in my fist. And I am not giving it up. Clements knows the appeal of projects, digging into the details of how it all would work with his characters serving as extra-bright and extra-sympathetic lab rats, responding to stimuli and refining their approaches. And he's not afraid to engage his characters in abstract thinking, whether it's about the law of supply and demand or the question of life after death, a chat about which Grace and her mother have one morning on the drive to school?you know, as one does. roger Sutton

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

December 21, 2018

Gr 3-6-Grace is a compulsive collector who thrives on collecting just about anything. She is over the moon when her grandfather says she can keep 27 boxes of buttons that they find in an old building that he just purchased. Grace adds these boxes to the myriad random objects and junk that she already has stored in her overflowing bedroom. When she takes some of the buttons to school, collecting buttons becomes a schoolwide frenzy. This causes Grace to become fixated on collecting data by counting the buttons she sees all around her, including the ones on her schoolmates' clothing. The button fever fascinates Grace, but she eventually comes to the conclusion that it has to end. Grace also has to deal with the feelings she begins to have for her bossy, superficial friend. Clements portrays elementary students in a clear light, especially in how quickly they can get swept up in the latest fad. The never-ending details of button swapping, however, become tiresome. VERDICT Hand to devoted Clements fans; a secondary purchase for smaller collections.-Amy Caldera, Dripping Springs Middle School, Dripping Springs, TX