The Button Boat was optioned for a TV-Movie by the late TV producer, David Victor, and an adaptation was done by Emmy-winning writer John McGreevey. This juvenile novella is a Depression-era tale of action and suspense and kids' scary fun that will remind the reader quite a bit of the famous 1955 thriller film, The Night of the Hunter, starring Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish and directed by actor Charles Laughton, based on Davis Grubb's novel.
"Bushwah!" shouts Auston. Hold your hats, folks. Off we go on a rollicking adventure down a river in a clamming boat with Auston and his older sister, Dixie, two of the sweetest, poorest, smelliest kids you'd ever hope to meet. This is an old-time, thriller-chiller-killer-diller of a story, complete with bank robbers, a daredevil hero, a villainess who drinks pink lemonade, a dog who likes beer, a hateful stepfather who just plain drinks, and two river kids who were tickled by a dream and opened up their shells just enough to get hooked before they could say, "What the Sam Hill goes on here?"
Will they escape their drunken stepfather? Will they ever get to go to a real school? Can a black valise crammed full of money really change their lives? Can the sweet smell of character overcome the superstink of the icky, sticky clam? Read on and find out.
