Gwendy's Button Box

Gwendy's Button Box

YA/adult fiction
"And she still thinks about the buttons of course, especially
the red one. She sometimes finds herself sitting cross-legged on the
cold basement floor, holding the button box in her lap, staring at
that red button in a kind of daze and caressing it with the tip of her
finger. She wonders what would happen if she pushed the red button
without a clear choice of a place to blow up. Who would decide what
was destroyed? God? The Box?"
Gwendy, narrator of Stephen King and Richard Chizmar's Gwendy's
Button Box is twelve when she meets the mystery man with the black
hat. She's old enough to know not to talk to and take gifts from
strangers. But she converses with him and goes home in possession of
a very strange and unique wooden box.
The box is quite magical. A lever on one side dispenses tiny
chocolate candies that surpress her appetite. A lever on the other
dispenses rare antique silver dollars. Neither run out. The buttons,
however, are instruments of selective or mass anihilation.
One day Gwendy, curious to see what will happen, pushes the red
button, thinking about an isolated location in Guyana. The next day
the news is all about the Jonestown Massacre.
What's that they say? With great power comes great
responsibility...all in the hands of a teenage girl.
Although Gwendy's Button Box is a departure from King's more
recent writing, it reminds me of his earlier Stand By Me. Both look
at youth without the golden patina of nostalgia that erases all
blemishes. Because of the quality of writing and the issues raised, I
think either or both would be perfect for high school literature
classes. Teachers take note.
On a personal note, you will never guess who I met in Fogler
(UMaine's) Library when I was getting a book fix! The kind reference
librarian who helped me locate a Linda Gordon book was none other than
Alexandra Hinrichs, author of Therese Makes A Tapestry! Recall we
discovered that sweet picture book last year? She works right in my
neighborhood. How cool is that?
It looks like Maine will be having quite a white Christmas. We
already look like a Currier & Ives print, and more snow is on the
way! I am contentedly getting the house ready for Katie to stay the
night Christmas Eve. The tree is ever so beautiful!
A great big shout goes out to Alexandra with hope that she is working
on another children's book. With her historian's attention to detail
and her feel for what makes a picture book come alive, she has what it
takes to make the past come alive for our youngest readers and
listeners.
A great big shout out also to you, my dear readers. I want to wish
you a merry Christmas! Travel safely. Enjoy loved ones. Have
patience with snags, disappointments, and hard to deal with family
members. I hope your yuletide is all your heart desires. I'm due to
do a post Christmas Eve, but what happens is not always what should
happen, especially with big old storms on the way. You Know?
jules hathaway



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