The Sea Chest

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful literature
Review: Based on a legend, this book is very touching. Children are thoroughly engaged in this book whether they are reading it on their own or having it read to them. It is superbly illustrated which enhances the book. Children can easily connect with the emotions in the text. I bought this book to use a s a read aloud in my classroom this year. It will be one I will return to each year. This book was recommended to me at a teaching conference and I am happy I made the purchase.

Rating:
Summary: I love this book!
Review: Once in a while, a picture book comes along that is a perfect marriage of story, words and illustration. The Sea Chest is one of those books.
The story is a lovely one, taken from a Maine legend. As I read, I _was_ the narrator, Maita. I felt the loneliness she felt as an only child living in the isolation of a lighthouse. I worried with her through the "fearsome storm," and held my breath with her as her Papa opened the chest that washed up on the shore the next morning. The ending brought a smile to my lips and a tear to my eye.
Author Toni Buzzeo writes with lyrical, vivid language and a sea-like rhythm that begs to be read aloud. Mary GrandPre's illustrations, in a palette that made me think of the bits of sea glass I used to find as a child, capture the rhythm and warmth of Buzzeo's words.
I have recommended this book to every librarian I know, and I eagerly await the arrival of Ms. Buzzeo's next book.

Rating:
Summary: Lyrical and Moving
Review: Toni Buzzeo takes us on a magical trip back through time to the days when the vigilance and skill of the lighthouse keeper were the only things between a storm tossed ship and catastrophe. But then, there were some storms so fearsome that even the lights were of no help. Auntie Maita's reminiscences of her solitary childhhod on fictional Sanctuary Island are lyrical and moving. She tells the story of one storm and the sea chest that washed up on shore in its aftermath. The connection between the contents of the chest and the event that awaits Auntie Maita and her grand niece eighty years later is one that will leave you in tears as you gently close the cover of the book.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful story!
Review: What a book! Toni Buzzeo has taken a Maine legend and transformed it with her lyrical language into a story of hope, the indomitable human spirit, and most of all, love.

My children (3, 5, 7 and 9) were fascinated by the surprising turn this story takes, and they were entranced by Mary GrandPre's beautiful illustrations.

THE SEA CHEST is a winner--highly recommended. We look forward to future picture books by Ms. Buzzeo.