The Proud Button

by Danette Richards, Annelies Vandenbosch (Illustrator)

Overview

An inspiring story about believing in a magical button and, more importantly, about believing in yourself. For children ages 5 years and up.

Isabelle is a shy little girl who loves to play. While everyone plays or works together, Isabelle always stands aside. When she gets a new button from her aunt, she considers it a treasure. Her special button reminds her to be proud and courageous. With the help of her new button, Isabelle begins to see that making friends isn’t as scary as it seems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605376073
Publisher:	Clavis
Publication date:	09/14/2021
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.84(w) x 10.20(h) x (d)
Age Range:	5 - 11 Years

About the Author

Danette Richards grew up in a little town near the mountains in northern Pennsylvania. She has two grown daughters who continue to fill her life with love and adventure. As a child, she particularly loved to draw, play music, explore the outdoors, and listen to her grandmother tell stories about the past and sing old songs. Danette graduated with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in education / special education. She also received a certificate in autism from Penn State University. Afterward, she worked as a teacher and eventually as a staff developer and consultant. Many of the students she supported in her work had emotional, academic, and physical challenges. Seeing them transform struggles to successes inspired her to write her first picture book, The Proud Button, about a child discovering what she’s capable of doing and becoming.

Annelies Vandenbosch is a Belgian illustrator who likes to retreat from society with her slightly chaotic head and her drawing materials. She loves creating illustrations with a positive and humorous touch, so readers can escape to a different world where everyone feels happy. She hopes that readers will then spread that happiness in their environment. When Annelies isn’t drawing, you can find her in an uncomfortable yoga pose, on a relaxing walk in her cozy village, enjoying a tasty meal, or making fun memories with family and friends.

Editorial Reviews

"This is a sweet story about a school-aged girl discovering how overcome social anxiety and feel proud of herself. This is a timely children's book for back to school time, especially for kids making new friends and figure out where they fit in." - Grapevine Library

"Loved the illustrations! A great book about having confidence and being proud of who you are. I definitely could relate to Isabelle as I was also a very shy kid" - Virginia Beach Public Library

"This is a sweet story about gathering courage and confidence to build friendships and put yourself out there with other people. The proud button is a physical token of that bravery, a little reminder that you have something special to add to the lives of others when you strike up a conversation. Only one moment took me out of the story, when our main character Isabelle suddenly has a long quote "Mom, I want to be happy with myself and not just my special treasures. I want my classmates to treat me with care, and I want to treat them with care too. This button will remind me..." this keeps going and my ARC copy didn't have an end quotation so I just thought it unlikely the little girl would be quite so literal in summing up the big messages and themes aloud like this. Otherwise, I think it's wonderful that she realized she wants to make friend connections in addition to her more solo hobbies of collecting special trinkets." - Centennial

From the Publisher