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The Red Tin Box
Like modern-day Miss Rumphius and her promise to make the world a more beautiful place, this luminous story brings the scope of a lifetime into focus for a young reader and fills it with the magic of gifts given and received.
This moving and radiant story of the relationship between a grandmother and granddaughter, and the joy and promise passed down between them, begins one quiet dawn . . .
On the morning of her eighth birthday,
Maude buries a secret
at the foot of a flowering dogwood—
and inside it,
a tiny toy elephant,
a marble like a tiger's eye,
a bird's nest with purple string woven through the twigs,
and more.
A special box.
A gift, waiting for the right moment to be opened again.
At once lyrical and profound, this enchantingly illustrated book is a joyful celebration of intergenerational relationships and of the secret treasures of childhood. Young readers and adults will delight in the memories and magic tucked away in the red tin box.
REASSURING AND In these unpredictable times, gentle stories have the power to reassure little ones that the most important things in life are still right in our hands. This beautiful book celebrates the enduring themes of family love, connection, and the power of memory with poignancy and care.
CELEBRATES INTERGENERATIONAL The warmth between a grandmother and her granddaughter that this luminous picture book depicts serves as a beautiful model of the little moments that form fond memories and build lasting intergenerational relationships.
EVERYONE HAS A The collection of special objects in this story give a grandmother's memories and connection to her granddaughter a physicality that even the youngest readers can use their own senses to understand, reinforcing the deeper meaning and mystery each one contains.
A MEANINGFUL With gorgeous, color-drenched illustrations and lyrical text that illuminates a message of enduring love, this picture book makes a wonderful gift for any occasion, from birthdays to holidays, and every day of the year.
Perfect
This moving and radiant story of the relationship between a grandmother and granddaughter, and the joy and promise passed down between them, begins one quiet dawn . . .
On the morning of her eighth birthday,
Maude buries a secret
at the foot of a flowering dogwood—
and inside it,
a tiny toy elephant,
a marble like a tiger's eye,
a bird's nest with purple string woven through the twigs,
and more.
A special box.
A gift, waiting for the right moment to be opened again.
At once lyrical and profound, this enchantingly illustrated book is a joyful celebration of intergenerational relationships and of the secret treasures of childhood. Young readers and adults will delight in the memories and magic tucked away in the red tin box.
REASSURING AND In these unpredictable times, gentle stories have the power to reassure little ones that the most important things in life are still right in our hands. This beautiful book celebrates the enduring themes of family love, connection, and the power of memory with poignancy and care.
CELEBRATES INTERGENERATIONAL The warmth between a grandmother and her granddaughter that this luminous picture book depicts serves as a beautiful model of the little moments that form fond memories and build lasting intergenerational relationships.
EVERYONE HAS A The collection of special objects in this story give a grandmother's memories and connection to her granddaughter a physicality that even the youngest readers can use their own senses to understand, reinforcing the deeper meaning and mystery each one contains.
A MEANINGFUL With gorgeous, color-drenched illustrations and lyrical text that illuminates a message of enduring love, this picture book makes a wonderful gift for any occasion, from birthdays to holidays, and every day of the year.
Perfect
64 pages, Hardcover
Published April 4, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
June 12, 2024
Spending time with our elders is a gift in this story in which a child's grandmother takes her to a special place from her childhood to fulfill a promise she made to herself when she was eight years old. Read this one a couple of times, there's something special in both the text and illustrations. A great book for a grandparent to share with a grandchild of any age, it could be a conversation starter.
December 18, 2022
A book of moments, of growing, of remembering. The wordless spreads are exquisite in terms of both storytelling and art. Would pair well with TIME CAPSULE by Lauren Redniss.
July 9, 2023
When Maude is young, she places some small items in a red tin box and buries it under a tree. Decades later, she drives her granddaughter to the location to dig it out. This is a lovely picture book capturing the magic of traditions, childhood, and family. The illustrations are stunning, especially the ones of the lush landscape.
August 29, 2023
Review of The Red Tin Box: Matthew Burgess, Author, Evan Turk, Illustrator. A hardcover picture book published by Chronicle Books (April 4, 2023.)
It's a warm clear spring night and the Milky Way illuminates an infinite path in time to both past and future across the sky. A little girl, softly illuminated in red and pinks by the rising sun slips furtively from the house. She holds something close and tight.
So begins The Red Tin Box written by poet professor Matthew Burgess and illustrated by prodigy Evan Turk. Burgess's words and Turk's pictures meld together in a miraculous way to create an extraordinary story that appeals to all ages. It is a story of buried childhood dreams and the abiding bond between a grandmother and her granddaughter.
Meet Maude the secretive little girl who sneaks stealthy out of her house. She is eight years old- it's her birthday, and she is a girl on a mission. Maude walks silently until she comes to a flowering dogwood tree at the woods edge. She chooses a spot after the ground whispers, "here." She kneels down and begins to dig. After the hole is finished, Maude carefully puts a red box made of tin in the hole and carefully covers it up. The world blushes pink and rose from "the kiss" of the early morning sun. Geese honk as they fly overhead. Maude looks up through the dogwood tree toward the heavens and makes a promise to herself.
Seasons come and seasons go, the years slip away and Maude has a daughter. As her curly dark hair fades to white, her daughter has a daughter, Eve. One by one the treasures in her box disappear from her memory, but the box remains and "glows in one corner of her mind."
As Maude works in her garden one bright November afternoon she is consumed by a feeling redolent of long ago spring sunrise. The next day Maude picks up Eve after school in her classic red truck for a road trip. As they turn east and drive through four towns and across the Hudson River, Maude tells Eve about the red tin box she buried underneath the flowering dogwood many years before. She cautions Eve that they might not be able to find it – the box might be lost forever.
But there is the dogwood of her childhood and of her dreams. Holding Eve's hand Maude wanders around until a particular spot whispers, "here." Digging the cold hard ground was tough, but they took turns until they hear a metallic "clink."
Maude lifts out the box, brushes off the dirt, and holds it tight. On the way back home in the red truck, Maude laughs and cries as she tells Eve many of her childhood stories. When they arrive home Maude gives the red tin box to Eve. As dusk settles around her, Eve makes her way under her tree, and she holds the box close and tight. Eve looks up through the tree toward the heavens. Geese honk as they fly overhead, and she makes a promise to herself. The Milky Way illuminates an illimitable path in time to both past and future across the sky.
The Red Tin Box is Matthew Burgess's eleventh book and his seventh children's picture book. Although not immediately evident, the story is a narrative poem that is written in stanza form. As a young man, Burgess saw that poetry is a secret language of sorts . . . poetry can connect you with kindred spirits across time and space." Burgess says that poetry "invites you to wonder and look for truth in imagination."
"Burgess is a gifted poet, but he's also a gift-giver. The romance of childhood is absolutely tangible... " wrote poet, Lisa Jarnot, of Burgess's earlier poems. The same can be said of The Red Tin Box. Burgess's text is also generous, kind, and gentle without being insipid and cloyingly sentimental.
Evan Turk is somewhat of a prodigy; his first job offer resulted from a project he did while still at Parsons School of Design. With each subsequent book, his reputation has grown. A well-known children's book critic, Mel Schuit, had this to say of Evan's canon thus far: "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Evan Turk is one of the most adaptable and curious illustrators currently working in children's literature. No two books of his have the same artistic style, which is clearly a result of Evan continually pushing himself to explore new media and techniques. Every one of Evan's books feels simultaneously unique in aesthetic in tone and yet reflective of his style because of the stories he chooses to tell."
In The People's Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art, Evan came very close to defining the stories he likes to tell. In the final illustration, hands transfigure into doves in the background while Ben, the grandfather, encourages a young artist in the foreground. They join together in a powerful image, with these words etched into the background, "l'dor vador," a Hebrew phrase meaning "from generation to generation." In all of Evan Turk's books, both authored and illustrated, with maybe Color the Sky being the only exception, this is his theme. In The Red Tin Box, generation to generation is the overarching theme.
Turk likes to let the subject matter help choose the medium; Evan chose to illustrate, The Red Tin Box, his eleventh book to illustrate, entirely with gouache, an opaque watercolor. Known for its flat matte finish and bold colors, gouache is very flexible – it can be used to paint the finest detail or render impressionistic images. Evan said of using gouache, ". . . I wanted the whole book to have a soft feeling like a memory." He did not, however, want to give up the precision when needed.
This choice of medium is in perfect harmony with Matthew Burgess's comparison of poetry to prose. "Poetry is more of an atmosphere that you are moving through – often you don't know where you are going. This disorientation is something I love about poetry. You are dropped into a landscape full of music and images, and you begin to find your way. There is a blur, which I love, and also moments of vividness and surprises."
Evan chose the palette from the hues of dawn to dusk and spring and fall. Gold and yellow ocher were dominant in the fall scenes. The color red is used throughout the story as the color tethers Maude and the reader to the box. Red is used in accessories like Maude's glasses, her scarf, her gloves and her red truck. The red color stays as an accessory color until the box is retrieved. The red continues to increase in each illustration until the climax. Maude gives the box to Eve and the pair is bathed in a red glowing light. Like Hitchcock in film, Turk has used a color as another layer of visual storytelling.
Another technique that Turk employs is the use of different vantage points in his illustrations. It provides interest, but also gives a sense of movement, a passing of time, and provides another layer of storytelling with the mood it creates, how we emotionally view the subject, and often the meaning of the scene. In six different viewpoints, we witness Maude's childhood.
Although not religious in any way, there is a spiritual quality to The Red Tin Box – maybe it's the circle of life and the passing of the seasons that is reminiscent of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: "For everything, there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven..." Maude's box is also evocative of a rough-hewn box, of Charles Tazewell's Littlest Angel, that belonged to a little boy from long ago filled with earthly treasures. As to Maude's earthly treasures buried within the little red, tin box....
What about the promises made by Maude and then Eve? Maybe the closest answer is a response Matthew gave when asked this question by his editor, "What does this story want to whisper to the reader's subconscious? "
Matthew answered, "To the child reader: "Never forget who you are now. As you grow up and change, hold onto your sense of wonder, and don't stray too far from 'here. To the adult reader: Remember the child you once were. If you have left her behind, go and search for her. Take that risk and dig."
The Red Tin Box is a five-star book that will appeal to adults as well as children. As C. S. Lewis said (or maybe not quite this way, but close enough), "A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest." Mathew Burgess and Evan Turk, along with publisher, Chronicle Books, have produced a very fine children's book. In addition to every grandmother owning this book to read to her grandchild, the book would be brilliant in a school setting or local library to start discussions about making a memory or treasure box and to explore the occasions and uses of time capsules.
Matthew Burgess teams up with illustrator Josh Cochran again for Sylvester's Letter. The book is due to be released Aug 29, 2023. Other forthcoming books are: Edward Imagined: A Story of Edward Gorey (2024); Fireworks (2024); and, Words With Wings and Magic Things (2025).
Evan Turk authors and illustrates To See Clearly: A Portrait of David Hockney. Its release is due Sept. 19, 2023.
It's a warm clear spring night and the Milky Way illuminates an infinite path in time to both past and future across the sky. A little girl, softly illuminated in red and pinks by the rising sun slips furtively from the house. She holds something close and tight.
So begins The Red Tin Box written by poet professor Matthew Burgess and illustrated by prodigy Evan Turk. Burgess's words and Turk's pictures meld together in a miraculous way to create an extraordinary story that appeals to all ages. It is a story of buried childhood dreams and the abiding bond between a grandmother and her granddaughter.
Meet Maude the secretive little girl who sneaks stealthy out of her house. She is eight years old- it's her birthday, and she is a girl on a mission. Maude walks silently until she comes to a flowering dogwood tree at the woods edge. She chooses a spot after the ground whispers, "here." She kneels down and begins to dig. After the hole is finished, Maude carefully puts a red box made of tin in the hole and carefully covers it up. The world blushes pink and rose from "the kiss" of the early morning sun. Geese honk as they fly overhead. Maude looks up through the dogwood tree toward the heavens and makes a promise to herself.
Seasons come and seasons go, the years slip away and Maude has a daughter. As her curly dark hair fades to white, her daughter has a daughter, Eve. One by one the treasures in her box disappear from her memory, but the box remains and "glows in one corner of her mind."
As Maude works in her garden one bright November afternoon she is consumed by a feeling redolent of long ago spring sunrise. The next day Maude picks up Eve after school in her classic red truck for a road trip. As they turn east and drive through four towns and across the Hudson River, Maude tells Eve about the red tin box she buried underneath the flowering dogwood many years before. She cautions Eve that they might not be able to find it – the box might be lost forever.
But there is the dogwood of her childhood and of her dreams. Holding Eve's hand Maude wanders around until a particular spot whispers, "here." Digging the cold hard ground was tough, but they took turns until they hear a metallic "clink."
Maude lifts out the box, brushes off the dirt, and holds it tight. On the way back home in the red truck, Maude laughs and cries as she tells Eve many of her childhood stories. When they arrive home Maude gives the red tin box to Eve. As dusk settles around her, Eve makes her way under her tree, and she holds the box close and tight. Eve looks up through the tree toward the heavens. Geese honk as they fly overhead, and she makes a promise to herself. The Milky Way illuminates an illimitable path in time to both past and future across the sky.
The Red Tin Box is Matthew Burgess's eleventh book and his seventh children's picture book. Although not immediately evident, the story is a narrative poem that is written in stanza form. As a young man, Burgess saw that poetry is a secret language of sorts . . . poetry can connect you with kindred spirits across time and space." Burgess says that poetry "invites you to wonder and look for truth in imagination."
"Burgess is a gifted poet, but he's also a gift-giver. The romance of childhood is absolutely tangible... " wrote poet, Lisa Jarnot, of Burgess's earlier poems. The same can be said of The Red Tin Box. Burgess's text is also generous, kind, and gentle without being insipid and cloyingly sentimental.
Evan Turk is somewhat of a prodigy; his first job offer resulted from a project he did while still at Parsons School of Design. With each subsequent book, his reputation has grown. A well-known children's book critic, Mel Schuit, had this to say of Evan's canon thus far: "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Evan Turk is one of the most adaptable and curious illustrators currently working in children's literature. No two books of his have the same artistic style, which is clearly a result of Evan continually pushing himself to explore new media and techniques. Every one of Evan's books feels simultaneously unique in aesthetic in tone and yet reflective of his style because of the stories he chooses to tell."
In The People's Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art, Evan came very close to defining the stories he likes to tell. In the final illustration, hands transfigure into doves in the background while Ben, the grandfather, encourages a young artist in the foreground. They join together in a powerful image, with these words etched into the background, "l'dor vador," a Hebrew phrase meaning "from generation to generation." In all of Evan Turk's books, both authored and illustrated, with maybe Color the Sky being the only exception, this is his theme. In The Red Tin Box, generation to generation is the overarching theme.
Turk likes to let the subject matter help choose the medium; Evan chose to illustrate, The Red Tin Box, his eleventh book to illustrate, entirely with gouache, an opaque watercolor. Known for its flat matte finish and bold colors, gouache is very flexible – it can be used to paint the finest detail or render impressionistic images. Evan said of using gouache, ". . . I wanted the whole book to have a soft feeling like a memory." He did not, however, want to give up the precision when needed.
This choice of medium is in perfect harmony with Matthew Burgess's comparison of poetry to prose. "Poetry is more of an atmosphere that you are moving through – often you don't know where you are going. This disorientation is something I love about poetry. You are dropped into a landscape full of music and images, and you begin to find your way. There is a blur, which I love, and also moments of vividness and surprises."
Evan chose the palette from the hues of dawn to dusk and spring and fall. Gold and yellow ocher were dominant in the fall scenes. The color red is used throughout the story as the color tethers Maude and the reader to the box. Red is used in accessories like Maude's glasses, her scarf, her gloves and her red truck. The red color stays as an accessory color until the box is retrieved. The red continues to increase in each illustration until the climax. Maude gives the box to Eve and the pair is bathed in a red glowing light. Like Hitchcock in film, Turk has used a color as another layer of visual storytelling.
Another technique that Turk employs is the use of different vantage points in his illustrations. It provides interest, but also gives a sense of movement, a passing of time, and provides another layer of storytelling with the mood it creates, how we emotionally view the subject, and often the meaning of the scene. In six different viewpoints, we witness Maude's childhood.
Although not religious in any way, there is a spiritual quality to The Red Tin Box – maybe it's the circle of life and the passing of the seasons that is reminiscent of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: "For everything, there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven..." Maude's box is also evocative of a rough-hewn box, of Charles Tazewell's Littlest Angel, that belonged to a little boy from long ago filled with earthly treasures. As to Maude's earthly treasures buried within the little red, tin box....
What about the promises made by Maude and then Eve? Maybe the closest answer is a response Matthew gave when asked this question by his editor, "What does this story want to whisper to the reader's subconscious? "
Matthew answered, "To the child reader: "Never forget who you are now. As you grow up and change, hold onto your sense of wonder, and don't stray too far from 'here. To the adult reader: Remember the child you once were. If you have left her behind, go and search for her. Take that risk and dig."
The Red Tin Box is a five-star book that will appeal to adults as well as children. As C. S. Lewis said (or maybe not quite this way, but close enough), "A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest." Mathew Burgess and Evan Turk, along with publisher, Chronicle Books, have produced a very fine children's book. In addition to every grandmother owning this book to read to her grandchild, the book would be brilliant in a school setting or local library to start discussions about making a memory or treasure box and to explore the occasions and uses of time capsules.
Matthew Burgess teams up with illustrator Josh Cochran again for Sylvester's Letter. The book is due to be released Aug 29, 2023. Other forthcoming books are: Edward Imagined: A Story of Edward Gorey (2024); Fireworks (2024); and, Words With Wings and Magic Things (2025).
Evan Turk authors and illustrates To See Clearly: A Portrait of David Hockney. Its release is due Sept. 19, 2023.
November 11, 2022
Such a beautiful story about the gift of a connection between grandmother and granddaughter, complemented by warm, evocative illustrations. The whole book feels like a memory.
April 4, 2023
The bond between a grandmother and a granddaughter can be very special. When Maude was eight, she made a promise to herself that only the trees and the geese in the sky would hear. She buried a red tin box of some of her favorite treasures under her special dogwood tree. Then, Maude grew up, graduated high school, and became a mom and eventually a grandma.
One day, Maude picked up her granddaughter, Eve, from school for a very special adventure. Maude and Eve found the spot under the special dogwood and started digging until they heard a clink. Maude and Eve opened the red tin box together and looked through the treasures left behind years ago.
I can’t say which is more amazing, the lyrical intergenerational story of a grandmother and granddaughter or the illustrations. Every single page of illustrations is frame-worthy from the trees and landscapes to the sunrises. This special moment between a grandmother and a granddaughter offers an opportunity to share stories and memories of the past as well as the present. This book would make an excellent gift for a new grandma or a special way to share the news of a new baby with family. Gifting this to a grandchild with your own red tin box of trinkets would also make for a wonderful gift. This treasure of a story is one to last for generations.
One day, Maude picked up her granddaughter, Eve, from school for a very special adventure. Maude and Eve found the spot under the special dogwood and started digging until they heard a clink. Maude and Eve opened the red tin box together and looked through the treasures left behind years ago.
I can’t say which is more amazing, the lyrical intergenerational story of a grandmother and granddaughter or the illustrations. Every single page of illustrations is frame-worthy from the trees and landscapes to the sunrises. This special moment between a grandmother and a granddaughter offers an opportunity to share stories and memories of the past as well as the present. This book would make an excellent gift for a new grandma or a special way to share the news of a new baby with family. Gifting this to a grandchild with your own red tin box of trinkets would also make for a wonderful gift. This treasure of a story is one to last for generations.
September 2, 2023
Childhood doesn’t last forever, but what if you could preserve a piece of it?
The relationship between Maude and her granddaughter was sweet and beautiful. I loved getting a taste of the sorts of quiet adventures they went on together, especially once the storyline explained what they hoped to accomplish on this trip. It’s always nice to have more stories about loving and involved grandparents, especially when they remember what it’s like to be a kid as clearly and fondly as this one did.
I was disappointed by how little time was spent explaining the contents of the red tin box. After all of the scenes that hyped up what Maude might have buried so many years before and why they were so meaningful to her, it felt odd to skim over these details so quickly in the last few scenes. If more attention had been paid to this, I would have happily gone for a much higher rating.
It was interesting to see how much the landscape stayed the same between when Maude buried her box and when she went back again to dig it up. There are a few places I know that are like that, and visiting them can feel like stepping back in the past in a soothing and wholesome way. This isn’t a feeling or a setting that’s easy to capture in a picture book, so I tip my cap to the author for pulling it off.
The Red Tin Box was a peaceful tale.
The relationship between Maude and her granddaughter was sweet and beautiful. I loved getting a taste of the sorts of quiet adventures they went on together, especially once the storyline explained what they hoped to accomplish on this trip. It’s always nice to have more stories about loving and involved grandparents, especially when they remember what it’s like to be a kid as clearly and fondly as this one did.
I was disappointed by how little time was spent explaining the contents of the red tin box. After all of the scenes that hyped up what Maude might have buried so many years before and why they were so meaningful to her, it felt odd to skim over these details so quickly in the last few scenes. If more attention had been paid to this, I would have happily gone for a much higher rating.
It was interesting to see how much the landscape stayed the same between when Maude buried her box and when she went back again to dig it up. There are a few places I know that are like that, and visiting them can feel like stepping back in the past in a soothing and wholesome way. This isn’t a feeling or a setting that’s easy to capture in a picture book, so I tip my cap to the author for pulling it off.
The Red Tin Box was a peaceful tale.
April 14, 2023
2.5 stars, rounded up for the illustrations.
This inter-generational story involves a girl who buries a time capsule and later digs it up with her granddaughter. It's not clear what historical era the book opens in, and I wanted to know, since the original character enters into a relationship with another woman and has a family with her. There's no details about this, so I wasn't sure if the grandmother's story was set in history, or if the granddaughter's story was set in the future.
Either way, the book emphasizes their relationship and the importance of sharing memories. The illustrations are really nice, and the theme of inter-generational bonds is good, but I had trouble believing that the grandmother could really find and dig up the time capsule on her first try based on nothing more than intuition, and I was disappointed that the book gave no explanation of the time capsule contents. You see them in an illustration, and the book portrays the characters' emotional reactions, but there's no explanation to the reader of why these objects are important or what memories they bring back for the grandmother.
This inter-generational story involves a girl who buries a time capsule and later digs it up with her granddaughter. It's not clear what historical era the book opens in, and I wanted to know, since the original character enters into a relationship with another woman and has a family with her. There's no details about this, so I wasn't sure if the grandmother's story was set in history, or if the granddaughter's story was set in the future.
Either way, the book emphasizes their relationship and the importance of sharing memories. The illustrations are really nice, and the theme of inter-generational bonds is good, but I had trouble believing that the grandmother could really find and dig up the time capsule on her first try based on nothing more than intuition, and I was disappointed that the book gave no explanation of the time capsule contents. You see them in an illustration, and the book portrays the characters' emotional reactions, but there's no explanation to the reader of why these objects are important or what memories they bring back for the grandmother.
April 5, 2026
A gentle and evocative story about memory, legacy, and the quiet rituals that connect generations. At its core is a familiar childhood impulse—the desire to bury something meaningful with the hope of returning to it someday—and the way that impulse carries forward through time.
In Maude’s case, that buried treasure is a small tin box, filled with objects that hold personal significance. When she returns years later with her granddaughter, Eve, the act of unearthing the box becomes more than a moment of nostalgia; it becomes an act of sharing, of passing down both memory and meaning. There is a quiet suggestion that this ritual will continue, that Eve, too, may one day create and bury a treasure of her own.
The illustrations enhance this sense of continuity, balancing softness with vibrant color. Together with the text, they create an atmosphere that invites reflection on the objects and moments we choose to hold onto—and the ways we carry them forward.
In Maude’s case, that buried treasure is a small tin box, filled with objects that hold personal significance. When she returns years later with her granddaughter, Eve, the act of unearthing the box becomes more than a moment of nostalgia; it becomes an act of sharing, of passing down both memory and meaning. There is a quiet suggestion that this ritual will continue, that Eve, too, may one day create and bury a treasure of her own.
The illustrations enhance this sense of continuity, balancing softness with vibrant color. Together with the text, they create an atmosphere that invites reflection on the objects and moments we choose to hold onto—and the ways we carry them forward.
September 20, 2023
As a grandmother, this story glows, and I wish I had done something similar. Long ago, eight years old, Maude buried a red tin box under a favorite dogwood tree. And then she grew and grew, but that is not the rest of the story. That happens after her own daughter, then granddaughter, Eve, is born, and grows to about the age of eight. There is a feeling that brings them both to drive and drive to see, to find that red tin box. With Even Turk's full-page muted paintings enhancing Matthew Burgess' beautiful story of a loving secret kept for many years, the story will fill your heart and, perhaps, inspire you to find your own tin box. (I have returned to see a maple tree that I climbed and sat under when I was a child. And I have sat under it with my granddaughters, telling them of all the fun I had sitting up in that tree and reading, so long ago.)
August 20, 2023
In this sweet stunningly illustrated with muted tones picture book we see a life span of a young girl who buries treasures when she is eight and many years later takes her own granddaughter to dig them up. Of course with each treasure the grandmother shares stories and time that is both precious and priceless.
WOW! In my elementary school there is a unit that encourages children to learn more about the childhoods of their family and this book will fit in wonderfully! If your school has Grandparents Day this book would be fun to share for that, as well.
WOW! In my elementary school there is a unit that encourages children to learn more about the childhoods of their family and this book will fit in wonderfully! If your school has Grandparents Day this book would be fun to share for that, as well.
June 6, 2024
I read this book as an adult reader for the AR Diamond Book Award. This book is all about a red tin box that a little girl buried when she was young. Years pass, she gets older, has a family–kids and grandkids of her own, then she decides one day that she wants to dig the box up again. There is little to no explanation and the reader is left wondering quite a bit. What is the box for? What is inside? Why are these specific things inside? Did they mean something special to her when she was little? Overall, it’s a sweet story. I just wish that it had a little more information.
May 14, 2023
When Maude was 8 years old she put a few little things in a red tin box and buried it under a tree. She didn't dig it up until she had a family of her own and a granddaughter many years later. This is a lovely story that is likely to inspire children to create their own time capsule. Nicely illustrated.
April 21, 2023
Maude buries a red tin box of treasures under a dogwood tree. Years later she digs it out with her granddaughter. She passes on the red tin box to her granddaughter for her to bury her treasures too.
May 5, 2023
I am a Matthew Burgess fan and this book does not disappoint. This is a beautiful book. There were a few questions I had, though. What was the promise? And what is the significance of the items buried in The Red Tin Box? These questions would be good things to discuss with young readers.
June 8, 2023
Picture book from the library
Beautiful illustrations, but I didn't understand the concept of the story. A little girl buried a red tin box of her "treasures "... and grows up... and digs it up with her granddaughter ... and that's kinda it.
Beautiful illustrations, but I didn't understand the concept of the story. A little girl buried a red tin box of her "treasures "... and grows up... and digs it up with her granddaughter ... and that's kinda it.
June 13, 2023
A simply delightful story of a woman revisiting a time capsule with her granddaughter from when she was a child. The illustrations were really striking and the nostalgia was strong and sweet. What a great opportunity to share memories with tangible objects. Very heartwarming.
August 18, 2023
A lovely books, but I don't understand what the promises to themselves were all about. The colors and perspectives of the pictures were amazing. The relationship between the grandma and child was precious.
February 16, 2026
A book that I believe has a deep impression of a child growing into adulthood and the memorable stories within it. Although not explained in detail, the time capsule has beautiful memories to cherish.
June 11, 2026
All the wonderful observations that inspire haiku poetry are found along the walk that these two, Kyoshi and Eto, child and grandfather. Inspiration comes from listening, feelings, observing, and touching.
June 8, 2023
I found this story to be extremely touching and thoughtful.
June 12, 2023
GORGEOUS illustrations from Evan Turk (who is wholly incomparable). This tender story of a grandmother and her granddaughter and a treasure they share is special.
July 15, 2023
This was gorgeous and so sweet.
August 22, 2023
5 stars for Illustrations (Stunning! Feel like a warm embrace)
3.5 for prose
the lyrical prose seems to be more for adults, kids might have questions about several loose ends.
3.5 for prose
the lyrical prose seems to be more for adults, kids might have questions about several loose ends.
December 11, 2023
10/10
Hardcover
Hardcover
January 15, 2024
A sweet, circle of life story of buried treasure and the treasure that is generations sharing experience. Illustrations by Evan Turk.
May 16, 2024
Sweet
June 5, 2024
Holt-Delhi library PJ story time 06-05-2024
March 13, 2025
I cried. It was so sweet.
August 17, 2025
4 stars
A girl buries a little red tin box on her eighth birthday and then digs it up decades later with her granddaughter
A girl buries a little red tin box on her eighth birthday and then digs it up decades later with her granddaughter
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