The Silver Button by Bob Graham (review)

In the span of a minute, as Jodie’s silver pen hangs in the air ready to put the last button on the boot worn by the duck she’s drawing, her baby brother tentatively pushes to his feet and takes his first wobbly step. Meanwhile, kids play on the sidewalk outside, and in the city a baby is born, a soldier says goodbye to his mother, a mother ties her son’s shoelaces for the second time that morning—and sunlight glows across the city and down on that remarkable family moment. Graham, always a gentle observer of the quotidian, regales audiences with a steadily zooming-out cross-section of city life to illustrate the millions of events packed into a minute. Graham’s prose is both simple and quietly lyrical (“Jodie and Jonathan’s mom began to play ‘Merrily Kiss the Quaker’s Wife’ on her pennywhistle”), with a focused present tense that enhances the book’s encapsulation of a moment, while his signature line and watercolor illustrations with their gentle hues and rounded features enhance the tenderness of this tale. The richly packed cityscapes and scenes of Jodie’s apartment from interesting (often birds’-eye) perspectives often hide clues to episodes that come before or after in the telescoping view, and these full spreads alternate with panels that focus on the connections that are continually occurring between people at any given time. The large trim size and appeal to community could make this a delicate addition to a storytime about cities, perhaps in partnership with Jenkins’ Water in the Park (BCCB 7/13), but it might find also find use in intimate sharing and contemplation of all the things happening in a single moment.