Button and Popper

Format:

Book

Title:

Button and Popper

Uniform Title:

Nappi ja Neppari. English

Author:

Tanninen, Oili author artist

ISBN:

9780500652015

Publication:

New York ; London : Thames & Hudson, 2019.

Physical Description:

1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 26 cm

General Note:

Translated from the Finnish.

Summary:

Button and Popper tells the story of a family of pixies--mother, father, and twelve children--who live in an apple tree. They enjoy its warmth and shelter, eating apple pie all spring and summer long. But when fall comes, the leaves begin to drop and the apple tree becomes a cold and wet place to live. Twin brothers Button and Popper decide to find their family a new home, but when they trek into the city and start inquiring about an apartment with room for twelve children and their parents, people laugh in their faces or politely excuse themselves. Luck strikes when, through a most fortunate mix-up at the market, the pixies find themselves in the home of Professor Pilli. When he hears their story, he invites them to look after his house while he's away at the South Pole. When the rest of their pixie family finds out the good news, everyone is relieved and happy again. First published in 1964, Button and Popper was written and illustrated by Oili Tanninen, one of Finland's most celebrated illustrators and authors. Bold, on-trend, midcentury illustrations support this new translation of a classic Finnish story that's quirky and charming in equal measure.

Subject(s):

Pixies -- Juvenile fiction.

Kindness -- Juvenile fiction.

Pixies -- Easy picture.

Twins -- Easy picture.

Home -- Easy picture.

Kindness -- Easy picture.

Genre:

Picture books for children.

Children's stories -- Pictorial works.

Fiction.

Illustrated works.

Added Author:

Jeremiah, Emily

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	JP Tanninen	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Dallas Public Library	+ Tanninen	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Luck strikes when, through a most fortunate mix-up at the market, the pixies find themselves in the home of Professor Pilli. When he hears their story, he invites them to look after his house while he's away at the South Pole. When the rest of their pixie family finds out the good news, everyone is relieved and happy again.

First published in 1964, Button and Popper was written and illustrated by Oili Tanninen, one of Finland's most celebrated illustrators and authors. Bold, on-trend, midcentury illustrations support this new translation of a classic Finnish story that's quirky and charming in equal measure.

Author Notes

Oili Tanninen is a celebrated Finnish illustrator and author with over twenty children's books to her name. She has received several major awards, including the Hans Christian Andersen Certificate of Honor (three times over). She lives in Helsinki.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

A pixie family struggles to find a new home.Mother and Father pixie and their 12 children need another place to live: With winter setting in, their apple tree no longer provides adequate shelter. Two of the boys, twins Button and Popper, sneak out early one morning, but all the people they ask about accommodations are aghast at the size of their family and have no idea where they could possibly go. Mistakenly carried home in a basket by an absent-minded professor and placed in his cellar, the adventuresome duo escapes and returns to the market to retrieve the professor's actual basket, left behind when he picked up the wrong one. They deliver it back to him, whereupon he offers them use of his home until the spring. The family rejoices. Illustrated in saturated shades of yellow, orange, and black with simple geometric shapes and line designs reminiscent of Marimekko textiles, this 1960s reissue from Finland possesses retro charm. The pixies wear pointed hats with bobbles on top. While gender is ambiguous for most of the children, it's the male characters who tend to demonstrate agency. Skin tone is mostly white but occasionally orange, yellow, or black. Inquisitive readers may wonder where the family lived the previous winter as well as about the scale of the pixies' world (Button slips an apple into his pocket but later appears to be about the size of the professor's bottle of juice). However, this simple story is sweet and appealing.A visual delight. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.