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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
Some violence including a climactic death; the implied power of the buttons is a sustained dread
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Barely any
No sexual content; Gwendy is twelve
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
Some
The specific psychological weight of possessing something you know is wrong to use, and having to decide what you'll do when someone terrible comes along
What this book is about
In 1974, twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson is struggling with bullies and her weight when a stranger in a black coat gives her a small wooden box on the Castle Rock stairs. The box has buttons — one for each continent, and two more — and a lever that dispenses treats. The treats are impossibly good. The buttons, the stranger says, are not for pushing. Stephen King and Richard Chizmar's novella is a contained, focused piece of Castle Rock mythology: a story about the kind of power that twelve-year-olds absolutely should not have, and what a decent kid does when she has it anyway.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
part of Stephen King's Castle Rock universe; can be read independently
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