Treasure Box by Margaret Wild & Freya Blackwood

I read Treasure Box months ago but I had forgotten just how moving and tender the story is.

This is a tale, at first glance, about war, persecution and refugees. But hope, dignity and courage are at its heart.

A library is destroyed by bombs and all the books burnt...except for the one that the narrator's father had borrowed out before for the blast.

When they are forced to flee, they carry the book (that describes their history) in their treasure box.

Later, as the father lays dying he entrusts the book to his son.

Time passes, peace arrives and the boy, now a man, is able to return to the area where he buried the treasure box for safe keeping.

Treasure Box is a homage to words, the importance of history, memories and belonging. In fact, I suspect this book will be used by primary schools and high schools to develop topics of belonging & peace.

Blackwood's layered collage pictures are subdued & sombre at times. Fragments of paper and words float around her pages and find their ways into objects & people.

I've included several examples of Blackwood's pages - they grow on me the more I see them.

Treasure Box has been shortlisted for this years CBCA picture book award.