Our Treasures Within
Lauding creativity, kindness, and love, the warm picture book Our Treasures Within builds upon a message from Pope Francis to instill optimism and hope.
Peter H. Reynolds’s endearing picture book Our Treasures Within encourages self-discovery and sharing with others.
Inspired by a conversation that Pope Francis had with young people in 2015 and based on the teachings of Ignatian spirituality, this colorful book urges children to discover their individual gifts and share them with the world. Themes of creativity and kindness pervade the book.
Most pages are made up of single-sentence instructions set against soft, watercolor-evocative painted backgrounds. Across the two-page layouts, which feature clean and unpretentious sketches, equal emphasis is placed on an individual’s purpose and on their larger contributions. Care is taken to represent diverse traits and cultural backgrounds. In group images, for example, people’s unique qualities are accentuated: A young man plays a guitar, a woman wears a hijab, and a boy sits in a wheelchair.
Throughout, the prose is accessible and straightforward, centering values of inclusion and self-worth. Indeed, an individual’s “treasures” are given singular weight, as with an illustration of a child reaching for a large, bright white star “within easy reach”; the opposite facing page depicts a girl with eyes closed walking with three yellow stars “deep inside waiting to be discovered.” Still, the encouragement to find, harness, and share one’s individual talents is a somewhat overfamiliar message. Further, while pages are awash in complementary colors meant to emphasize young people’s distinctive traits, the book’s tangible examples are sparse—limited to song, art, and writing. Light as metaphor for discovery and positivity is too ubiquitous as well.
The initial single-color pages of blue, yellow, green, red, and purple meld together into a kaleidoscopic blend of rainbow colors as the text progresses. Illustrations of Earth, peace signs, and hearts further support the book’s inclusive narrative. The image of an open box emanating white light, as representative of a person’s unique attribute, appears throughout, and the font increases in size to correspond with how one’s gifts grow with sharing.
Our Treasures Within is a touching picture book about the importance of believing in oneself, friendship, and acceptance.
Reviewed by
Katy Keffer
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
