The Good for Nothing Button
by Charise Mericle Harper
Hyperion Books for Children, 2017. 60 pages.
The Good for Nothing Button is part of the Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! series. It features a bit of metafiction, with the start and end of the book showing Mo Willems’ Gerald and Piggie reading the story by Charise Mericle Harper and reacting to it.
That would annoy me if the story itself weren’t an excellent beginning reader tale.
Yellow Bird has something to show his friends Red Bird and Blue Bird. It’s a button!
But this button does nothing – or so Yellow Bird says.
But when Blue Bird presses it, he’s surprised the button is so easy to press.
Being surprised is not nothing.
When Red Bird presses it, he’s not surprised, which makes him sad.
Blue Bird points out that being sad is not nothing.
Red Bird and Blue Bird come to believe that the button can do many things. Yellow bird is not convinced. His efforts to explain that convince Red Bird and Blue Bird that the button has made Yellow Bird angry!
And the whole conversation and argument is good, silly fun. I suspect you may find kids playing with the concepts of “Nothing” and “Something” after reading this book.
It’s all easy to read, and our friends Elephant & Piggie introduce the story and play off of it. Fantastic for beginning readers.
chariseharper.com
pigeonpresents.com
hyperionbooksforchildren.com
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