Teddy’s Button is a 63-page, fully illustrated, 9”x12” picture book, with beautiful glossy pages. The original story was written by Amy Lefeuvre. It’s been rewritten by Mark Hamby, illustrated by Jennifer L. Hamby and published by Lamplighter Publishing, copyright 2005. It retails for $25.

I’ll be honest; I sat down to “quickly” read this to my children when it arrived, and by about the second page, I realized this was not going to be quick. In “judging a book by its cover,” it appeared to be a short picture book, but it is far from that. It’s a tale of Teddy and his friends and Teddy’s beloved brass button—a treasure from the coat of his father, a fallen soldier. Teddy desperately wants to be a soldier, but soon he learns about enlisting in the King’s Army and becoming a soldier of a different sort. Teddy has many adventures and chances to learn and grow as he surrenders to his Captain.

We really enjoyed this book! It was far more than I expected, and a great tale of courage, bravery, and serving our one true King. My kids were enthralled with the tale, though I wouldn’t choose to attempt reading straight through again—it took over an hour, and my voice was shot, and I had to hand over the book to my thirteen-year-old to finish. There are easy places to stop throughout the book that break it into nine chunks of varying sizes. It would make a great bedtime story, broken up to read over a week and a half.

My kids under three started out listening to me read and soon fell asleep. It was over their heads, though they liked the pictures. My five-year-old understood much of the story, and it was enjoyable for everyone up to my oldest, age thirteen. I am, once again, thrilled with the values and lessons taught by the books presented by Lamplighter Publishing. The story is excellent, the pages beautifully illustrated, and the lessons invaluable.

-Product review by Adrienne Falkena, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, July 2017