A Bear Bedtime Story: The Button That Would Not Match

Read this original bear bedtime story: Bram sorts his button collection and finds a different way to display one awkward favorite. The complete story appears below, followed by a small personalization idea for your next reading together.

The Button That Would Not Match

Bram the bear had buttons in jam jars, buttons in boxes and one button in the pocket of a coat he no longer wore. On wet afternoons he spread them across a cloth and sorted them into families.

Four red buttons belonged together. Six small brown buttons made a neat row. The blue ones had flowers pressed into their edges. Bram counted them twice because one always rolled beneath his elbow.

But a yellow button shaped like a pear would not fit anywhere. It had one large hole through its middle. All the others had two holes, four holes or a loop on the back. Bram placed it with the yellow buttons. It was much too large.

He placed it with the large buttons. It was much too yellow.

His friend Wren arrived with a basket to return. She looked at the cloth. "What are you making?"

"Order," Bram said. "Nearly."

Wren picked up the pear button and turned it over. A little dent marked one side. "This was on your picnic bag. I remember the dent. You sat on it beside the river."

Bram remembered too. His sandwich had become completely flat. They had eaten it anyway, with berries rolling out at the edges. He set the button near the red row, but it still looked misplaced.

Wren helped sort until the rain stopped. They found two matching purple buttons inside a teacup and rescued the blue one from beneath Bram's elbow. Then she took her basket home.

Bram put each family back in its jar. Last came the pear button. He held it up to the window. Through its single hole he could see a small circle of wet garden, with one bright leaf exactly in the middle.

He found a short piece of string and threaded it through the hole. On the hook beside his picnic bag, the yellow pear turned gently whenever the door opened.

Next morning Bram packed sandwiches. He checked the bag's fastening, then slipped the pear button into its little inside pocket. It clicked against the tin of berries.

The jars could stay at home in their tidy rows. This button was going to the river, where Bram had already decided to sit on a cushion.

A detail your child can choose

Your child can choose the odd button's shape. Keep its single hole, because that detail explains why it does not belong in any of Bram's matching sets. If collections are familiar at home, name one without comparing it to anyone else's. For an optional retelling, arrange imaginary buttons in the air and let your child decide where the last one belongs.

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