The Treasure Box
Illustrator
Freya Blackwood
Publisher
Candlewick Press
Publication Year
2017
ISBN
9780763690847
Pages
40 pages
Genre
historical
Format
picture book
Item Type
Fiction
Annotation
When the enemy bombs the library, everything burns, and only one book survives. As war rages around them, Peter and his father, alongside so many refugees, flee their home, taking with them a treasure box that holds something rarer than rubies and more precious than gold. They journey through mud and rain and long cold nights, and soon survival becomes more important than any possession. But as the years go by, Peter never forgets the treasure box, and one day he returns to find it. This moving story from celebrated author Margaret Wild is illustrated with Freya Blackwood’s subtly affecting artwork, which incorporates pages of children’s books in translation. The result is a haunting and beautiful tale of the power of stories and the resilience of the human spirit.
Grade Level
K-3
Diversity Topics
Family Relationships; Culture/Ethnicity; Single parent; Family member death; Immigrants and refugees; single father; death of a father; immigrant children; emigration; refugee family
Main Character
male child
Race/Ethnicities
White
Family Formation
father
Keywords
personal belongings; survival; books; libraries; fathers and sons; treasure; orphanage; perserverance
Diversity Impact
direct
STARS Citation
Wild, Margaret, "The Treasure Box" (2017). Diverse Families. 1857.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/diversefamilies/1857