School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Ylvisaker's sequel (2012) to Luck of the Buttons (2011, both Candlewick) is set in Iowa in 1929. Ned Button dreams of being a football player. In a send-off game for Lester Ward, a local football hero going to play for the Hawkeyes, Ned catches Lester's pass, which entitles him to keep the football. But Lester's brother Burton snatches the ball out of Ned's hands, declaring the ball to be rightfully his and insisting that Ned didn't catch it. This sets in motion Ned's continuing struggling to get the ball back from this local bully and prove his worth as a football player. This down-home story will keep listeners engaged as Ned tries to deal with Burton on his own terms. He has help from his ailing but still colorful granddaddy, Ike, and learns that winning a football game is more about strategy and teamwork than muscles and brute force. Sanjiv Jhaveri does a good job of varying the voices, and his easy styling and good pacing will engage listeners. This story deals with important issues and will interest elementary graders who are football fans.-Stephanie Farnlacher, Trace Crossings School, Hoover, AL (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Ylvisaker (The Luck of the Buttons, 2011) returns to the lovably unlucky Button family, this time with a gentle story about 11-year-old Ned and his love of football. When local legend-in-the-making Lester Ward goes off to play football for the University of Iowa, he tosses his old football into an eager pack of boys, and surprise of surprises, it is caught by scrawny Ned Button. But when Lester's younger brother Burton steals the ball away, Ned and his friends are ostracized and reduced to playing with a newspaper-and-twine football on the sidelines. That is, until Granddaddy Ike gets involved. He convinces the group of ragtag youth that football is more about strategy than size, teaching them plays to run against the bigger, tougher boys. And despite a failing heart, Granddaddy arranges to make one of Ned's dreams--attending a game at the University of Iowa--come true. The precise historical setting--tiny Goodhue, Iowa, in 1929--is not central to this story, though it's carefully drawn. It could happen anyplace where bullies do nothing worse than steal footballs and a grandfather's advice and love are enough to make a kid feel like he can take on the world. Short chapters, simple yet meticulous language, a wholesome feel and the universal story of a boy with a dream combine to give this one widespread appeal. (Historical fiction. 8-11)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
