After Jewish fifth-grader Ava and her Muslim best friend Nadeem are called hateful names at school, Ava's Granny Buena rummages in her closet and pulls out a glittering crystal button box. It's packed with buttons that generations of Ava's Sephardic ancestors have cherished. With the help of Granny's mysterious cat Sheba, Ava and Nadeem discover that a button from the button box will take them back in time. Suddenly, they are in ancient Morocco, where Nadeem's ancestor, Prince Abdur Rahman, is running for his life. Can Ava and Nadeem help the prince escape to Spain and fulfill his destiny, creating a legendary Golden Age for Muslims, Jews and Christians?

Set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine Stephen King teams up with long-time friend and award-winning author Richard Chizmar for the first time in this original, chilling novella that revisits the mysterious town of Castle Rock. There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974, twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong—if time-rusted—iron bolts and zig-zag up the precarious cliffside. Then one day when Gwendy gets to the top of Castle View, after catching her breath and hearing the shouts of kids on the playground below, a stranger calls to her. There on a bench in the shade sits a man in black jeans, a black coat, and a white shirt unbuttoned at the top. On his head is a small, neat black hat. The time will come when Gwendy has nightmares about that hat… The little town of Castle Rock, Maine has witnessed some strange events and unusual visitors over the years, but there is one story that has never been told—until now.

What does a football-loving kid do with a couple of old wooden boxes and a pile of buttons? Andy Howell sure doesn't know, but his Grandma Lois gives him precisely that on his twelfth birthday. "They'll change your life and show you spectacular stories about our family's history," Lois tells him. But Andy wonders if she's just trying to coax him toward a future in the family tailoring business and away from his dream of becoming a famous football player. And when she urges him to sleep with the buttons to unlock their magical stories, he begins to think she's going crazy. He doesn't have time to mess with stupid buttons and boxes. All he can think about right now is how to get a good grade on his family tree project in history so he doesn't get benched by his coach and ridiculed by his teammates, who are also his friends. But when Lois suddenly ends up in the hospital with a mysterious ailment, Andy begins to wonder if the power of the buttons and boxes are the only things that can save her. If he learns the button's secrets and his family history, will it cure Lois? Andy doesn't know but frantically devises a plan to rescue her, risking trouble with his parents, teachers, friends, and worst of all, his coach. But is it too late?

An inlaid wooden chest the size of a shoe box holds Lynn Knight's button collection. A collection that has been passed down through three generations of women: a chunky sixties-era toggle from a favourite coat, three tiny pearl buttons from her mother's first dress after she was adopted as a baby, a jet button from a time of Victorian mourning. Each button tells a story. 'The Button Box' traces the story of women at home and in work from pre-First World War domesticity, through the first clerical girls in silk blouses, to the delights of beading and glamour in the thirties to short skirts and sexual liberation in the sixties.

"Simple toys are best, and when they're done as well as this, simple books as well."—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books An imaginative little boy explores the many pleasures that can be found in—and made from—his grandmother's button box. NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies "Chamberlain's bold linoleum cuts, with gentle color added, portray the buttons in loving detail and give the book an appropriately old-fashioned flavor."—Kirkus Reviews "Besides inspiring some flights of fancy for readers, the book will suggest many uses to parents and librarians for games, history lessons, and puppetry."—Booklist

"There was never a moment in our lives that we were not reminded that our father was the finest, bravest, most gallant, and best-looking man who ever lived and that he was destined for unimaginable glory. This we took for granted. Being our father's children was a special influence in all our lives, but the greatest, most pervasive, and most interesting influence in my life was Ma." The Button Box is the loving memoir of Beatrice Ayer Patton (1886-1953), the wife of one of the greatest military figures in history, General George S. Patton, Jr. Written by the Pattons' daughter, Ruth Ellen, the book covers Beatrice's life from her youth in a wealthy New England family until her death, with an emphasis on her years of marriage to George Patton. A supportive and loving wife, Beatrice was accomplished in her own right as an equestrian, musician, lecturer, sailor, and internationally published author. Courageous and adventurous, Beatrice played a significant role in her husband's life. Without her, General Patton might never have reached his own level of success. Although there have been numerous books written on George S. Patton, The Button Box provides a unique perspective on the general's complex personality as well as a rare and intimate look inside his famous American family, a glimpse of the "Old Army" that formed the cadre of the army of World War II, and a detailed description of life "between the wars" in a society not to be seen again. Most important, though, it is the story of a truly fascinating woman, told with love and a rowdy sense of humor by her daughter.