Name: The Secret Box
ISBN: 9780547238685

Barbara Lehman

A young schoolboy from the early twentieth century hides a candy box with secret instructions in the floorboards of his boarding school for future generations of schoolchildren to find and follow to a mysterious hidden place.

The Secret Box

Sarah Sammis

The Secret Box by Barbara Lehman is a wordless picture book about a hidden treasure that leads a group of children on an across-town and -time adventure.

The book opens with children at a boarding school, or an orphanage (whatever the building is, it's up to interpretation), finding an old box under the floorboards. Inside are photographs, a map, tickets and a few other odds and ends. Working together, the children piece together the instructions that lead them across town to a beachside amusement park.

Because of the series of steps it takes to figure everything out, and because of the way the children get to interact with children from other decades, the book reminds me most of David Wiesner's Flotsam.

Both of my children liked the book for different reasons. My youngest liked it for all the little details in the artwork. My oldest liked it for its sense of adventure.

The Secret Box

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