A teacher who believes in children’s dreams can help make those dreams come true in spite of discouraging thinking—especially if she gives them magic buttons from her magnificent collection.
Dainty teacher Rebecca Buttons is Headmistress of Wormwood School for Higher Learning. When parents give her trouble, she is quick to set them straight, telling them that children must have flourishing imaginations. She wants her students to be able to do more than read or write, she wants them to know how to sing and fly kites. More than math and science, Miss Buttons tries to teach her students to believe in the impossible. If someone tells you that you can’t do it, show defiance, get determined, and find a way to accomplish that dream. She thinks her collection of magic buttons is better than pennies or nickels. If a student comes to her in tears, she tries to calm their growing fears, tells them to take a button from the pickle jar, and then to wish upon a star.
Gracie Suttons is especially feisty and wears cute and lacy dresses to school, but Gracie’s mom, Mrs. Suttons, hates buttons. She thinks giving students buttons is ridiculous. However, Rebecca doesn’t care what Mrs. Suttons thinks and tells her that buttons can help any decision, and that she should broaden her thwarted view of life. Through the school, Miss Buttons runs a string that loops buttons for charm. Rebecca constantly reminds the children what buttons mean: “Be kind to others. Believe in the impossible goal. No one can give up!” Even if Mrs. Suttons wrinkles her nose, Rebecca ignores her. Miss Buttons insists that the world needs teachers, space walkers, doctors, artists, preachers, storytellers, chemists, deep-sea divers, architects, actors, and camel drivers. She insists that parents must tell their children the truth. Don’t lie to the children! Children were created to do mighty things and must spread their wings and fly.
When Rebecca’s buttons are stolen, she becomes so angry that her cheeks are swollen. She thinks that Mrs. Suttons has gone crazy and stolen the buttons for sure. Miss Buttons hides her buttons in a secret room behind her office wall, a hall with buttons of every kind in alphabetical order depending on the problem they remedy. Once or twice a year, she stocks up on wisdom buttons, hiring the Wormwood Button Elves to find lost buttons all over town. Although she continues to fill her pickle jar, she never shows anyone the secret room, except young Gracie Suttons, whose mother has told her to be a cleaning lady for the rest of her life. Gracie’s life has new possibility because she takes a button from every jar. Later in life, Gracie acquires Miss Buttons’ teaching job, and Mrs. Suttons never finds the button vault, which Gracie inherits. A button reminds everyone to never say never!