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The shoes were always black. Black was better, grandfather said. More practical. Better dyes. Martin Jordan should know. He was a shoemaker and practical German immigrant. Practical realities drove life in that era. Soup made from chicken feet, salvaging unburnt coal from the furnace ashes and winters with daily doses of cod liver oil. "We were in poverty, but we didn't even know it." So recalls Louise Margaret Johnson in Shoes with Buttons. She relates childhood memories including simple joys such as Baby Ruth candy bars (the Babe was still playing baseball at the time), mittens made from socks, and Maypole dances. These memories, woven together become a story traversing adversities, as well as surprising opportunities, including a scholarship to an exclusive girl's camp that changed the direction of her life. The result is a book tht helps us understand yesterday, as well as providing an example of how to reach for tomorrow.