The Button Box - by Bridget Hodder & Fawzia Gilani-Williams (Paperback)

About the Book

With the help of a magic button, Jewish Ava and Muslim Nadeem go back in time to ancient Morocco to help Prince Abdur Rahman escape to Spain and fulfill his destiny as the ruler of a country in which Jews and Muslims work together to make medieval Spain a center of science, mathematics, music, and poetry.

Book Synopsis

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?

Review Quotes

"The Button Box is engaging historical fiction with important messages for young people. The reader is encouraged to be an upstander in the face of hatred and bigotry." - Association of Jewish Libraries

-- (8/10/2022 12:00:00 AM)