What do you think?
Rate this book
The Sea Chest
From the author of the 2013 Caldecott Honor Book, ONE COOL FRIEND!
As they wait for the arrival of a new baby, Maita tells her great-grandniece the story of her remarkable childhood. Living sheltered on a lighthouse island with only her parents for company, Maita always longed for a sibling-longed not to be the only child the ragged island knew. And then one icy night, howling winds blew wave after wave against the shore, and from that fearsome storm came a sea chest-a gift that would change Maita's life forever.
From a beguiling Maine legend, newcomer Toni Buzzeo has fashioned this exquisitely lyrical, intimate tale, illustrated in vibrant oil paintings by Mary GrandPre. Together they have created a book of classic beauty and resonance.
As they wait for the arrival of a new baby, Maita tells her great-grandniece the story of her remarkable childhood. Living sheltered on a lighthouse island with only her parents for company, Maita always longed for a sibling-longed not to be the only child the ragged island knew. And then one icy night, howling winds blew wave after wave against the shore, and from that fearsome storm came a sea chest-a gift that would change Maita's life forever.
From a beguiling Maine legend, newcomer Toni Buzzeo has fashioned this exquisitely lyrical, intimate tale, illustrated in vibrant oil paintings by Mary GrandPre. Together they have created a book of classic beauty and resonance.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published August 5, 2002
2 people are currently reading
181 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
January 4, 2010
4.5 STARS. "The Sea Chest" isn't quite perfect but it did captivate me thanks in large part to the luminous illustrations by Mary GrandPre. This is the "based on a maybe-true/maybe-legend story" of the lighthouse keepers on a small island along the Maine coast and how a sea chest wrapped in mattresses washes ashore after a ship is lost during a storm. What's inside??? You'll have to read to find out--but I'll give you a clue, the "mewling" sound inside is not a kitten as the lighthouse keeper's daughter hopes, but turns out to be something she loves even more.
June 4, 2019
This lovely tale within a tale follows the dual stories of a young girl, visiting with her great-great-aunt Maita, and of Maita herself, and her childhood on a rocky Maine island, where her father kept the Halleys Head Light. After a terrible storm batters the island, Maita and her father discover a sea chest washed up on the shore, and find a tiny baby inside. Wrapped in a quilt - together with a note reading: "We commit this child into the hands of God. May He save her" - the baby is christened "Seaward," and becomes Maita's adopted younger sister, and (eventually) the young girl's great-grandmother. Many, many years later, Maita tells the story to her young great-niece, who is waiting for her own baby sibling to arrive, from across the seas...
Based upon a folk legend about a baby found washed up on the shore of Maine's Southport Island - a legend that most likely has its origin in C.C. Munn's 1900 novel, Uncle Terry - Buzzeo's The Sea Chest is a magical tale of family and inter-generational love, greatly enhanced by Mary GrandPré's beautiful oil illustrations. I found myself, rather unexpectedly, caught up in its improbable tale of seaside discovery and survival. Recommended to children who enjoy tales of the sea, of lighthouses, or of adoptive families, and to all who appreciate Mary GrandPré's artwork.
Based upon a folk legend about a baby found washed up on the shore of Maine's Southport Island - a legend that most likely has its origin in C.C. Munn's 1900 novel, Uncle Terry - Buzzeo's The Sea Chest is a magical tale of family and inter-generational love, greatly enhanced by Mary GrandPré's beautiful oil illustrations. I found myself, rather unexpectedly, caught up in its improbable tale of seaside discovery and survival. Recommended to children who enjoy tales of the sea, of lighthouses, or of adoptive families, and to all who appreciate Mary GrandPré's artwork.
November 14, 2015
*Read to the last page. Interesting facts in the back!
August 11, 2020
I waited about 3.5 months to read this, thanks to a loser who would not turn in the book in even though it was months late and the library kept renewing it for them. I was so mad that I didn't get to read this in July, but now that I have read it I can say it wasn't worth the wait.
I was not a fan of anything about this book, except the illustrations. The pictures are cute and made me want to look at them. I didn’t like the writing or the story itself. I found both to be way too mature for a children’s book. There were metaphors that would go way over a child’s head and big words and references used that were not targeted to the audience at all.
She mentioned touching a picture with hope. Kids don’t understand concepts like that.
“My heartbeat rushes in an impatient waltz.” Kids won’t know what a waltz is and that wouldn’t understand the idea of your heart doing that.
“But my dancing heart can’t be still for long. Tripping wildly, it beats out a waiting rhythm.”
Now isn’t the time for waxing poetry. Young minds with short attention spans have to be able to focus on this and understand the words and meanings and this is above and beyond their capabilities.
Strangely, she wrote about the girl circling double-yolk days on the calendar. I wondered what that was about, if it’s a custom to do that or what the big deal is about getting a double-yolk out of the eggs.
I did find it interesting that supply boat days got double blue stars, and they brought news, fellowship, and sugar for the tea. I wished for more details like that.
It was informative that during the storm they stayed awake and worried about the ship they couldn’t see while her dad kept the light burning.
She had a jar of sea glass that she collected which was cool.
Obviously I knew what was going to be in the chest when I first read the summary. It’s not the first time a baby has washed ashore in the literary world. So when they found the chest and heard a crying and she thought it was a kitten, I knew better the whole time.
A captain and his wife committed her to the hands of God, so you assumed their ship was sinking and they sent the baby out on her own but they didn’t make it.
She named her Seaborne and I thought was a terrible name you would only name someone in a fantasy novel.
She mentioned purple vetch and I’m thinking that’s an unnecessary detail because kids won’t know what that flower is. I haven’t even heard of it.
I missed the part where the girl turned into a great-aunt and was telling her great-niece about this. I hate stories where the main character ends up old, talking to their descendants about being a kid. It’s depressing and jarring. So all of a sudden a couple pages from the end, she referred to Seaborne as your great-grandma. When Maita left the island to become a bride, Seaborne followed her and married and lived near her. Seaborne was buried last year and I’m like whoa, birth to death in an instant. That sucks.
Then on the last page of the novel it suddenly changed to Seaborne’s great-granddaughter’s POV. It had been in Maita’s POV, first-person, the entire time, but then went to this girl’s perspective in first-person.
The girl was talking about the stranger her parents were getting across the Atlantic and the chest being open and waiting for the stranger that would be her sister. I guess her parents are adopting a baby from another country.
I was disappointed that this is a fictional story. It made me wonder at the specific details of double-yolks being marked on the calendar. Is that something the author does?? To make it worse, the island isn’t even a real place. There is a legend about a lighthouse keeper finding a baby in a chest washed ashore. It also supposedly had a note from a captain and his wife committing her to God. It says the keeper and his wife recently lost their child and adopted her and named her Seaborne. But there’s no record in the log.
I was not a fan of anything about this book, except the illustrations. The pictures are cute and made me want to look at them. I didn’t like the writing or the story itself. I found both to be way too mature for a children’s book. There were metaphors that would go way over a child’s head and big words and references used that were not targeted to the audience at all.
She mentioned touching a picture with hope. Kids don’t understand concepts like that.
“My heartbeat rushes in an impatient waltz.” Kids won’t know what a waltz is and that wouldn’t understand the idea of your heart doing that.
“But my dancing heart can’t be still for long. Tripping wildly, it beats out a waiting rhythm.”
Now isn’t the time for waxing poetry. Young minds with short attention spans have to be able to focus on this and understand the words and meanings and this is above and beyond their capabilities.
Strangely, she wrote about the girl circling double-yolk days on the calendar. I wondered what that was about, if it’s a custom to do that or what the big deal is about getting a double-yolk out of the eggs.
I did find it interesting that supply boat days got double blue stars, and they brought news, fellowship, and sugar for the tea. I wished for more details like that.
It was informative that during the storm they stayed awake and worried about the ship they couldn’t see while her dad kept the light burning.
She had a jar of sea glass that she collected which was cool.
Obviously I knew what was going to be in the chest when I first read the summary. It’s not the first time a baby has washed ashore in the literary world. So when they found the chest and heard a crying and she thought it was a kitten, I knew better the whole time.
A captain and his wife committed her to the hands of God, so you assumed their ship was sinking and they sent the baby out on her own but they didn’t make it.
She named her Seaborne and I thought was a terrible name you would only name someone in a fantasy novel.
She mentioned purple vetch and I’m thinking that’s an unnecessary detail because kids won’t know what that flower is. I haven’t even heard of it.
I missed the part where the girl turned into a great-aunt and was telling her great-niece about this. I hate stories where the main character ends up old, talking to their descendants about being a kid. It’s depressing and jarring. So all of a sudden a couple pages from the end, she referred to Seaborne as your great-grandma. When Maita left the island to become a bride, Seaborne followed her and married and lived near her. Seaborne was buried last year and I’m like whoa, birth to death in an instant. That sucks.
Then on the last page of the novel it suddenly changed to Seaborne’s great-granddaughter’s POV. It had been in Maita’s POV, first-person, the entire time, but then went to this girl’s perspective in first-person.
The girl was talking about the stranger her parents were getting across the Atlantic and the chest being open and waiting for the stranger that would be her sister. I guess her parents are adopting a baby from another country.
I was disappointed that this is a fictional story. It made me wonder at the specific details of double-yolks being marked on the calendar. Is that something the author does?? To make it worse, the island isn’t even a real place. There is a legend about a lighthouse keeper finding a baby in a chest washed ashore. It also supposedly had a note from a captain and his wife committing her to God. It says the keeper and his wife recently lost their child and adopted her and named her Seaborne. But there’s no record in the log.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 20, 2017
I read this to our Summer Reading youth. It is a slightly harder book to do in a Storytime situation when you've never read it before. (I grabbed it off the display shelf today when the presenter was running late.) The kids stayed quiet to hear the story, so the book kept them interested. This surprised me since the story didn't seem that exiciting.
It seemed like the language really grabbed them. There were a handful of words they didn't know so great as a vocabulary expander. And we also had a great discussion about different things that could be considered treasure and what different kinds of people we consider family.
3 3/4 ⭐ bumping up to 4 stars
It seemed like the language really grabbed them. There were a handful of words they didn't know so great as a vocabulary expander. And we also had a great discussion about different things that could be considered treasure and what different kinds of people we consider family.
3 3/4 ⭐ bumping up to 4 stars
October 15, 2016
This book is near and dear to my heart. I was fortunate enough to meet the author when I was in the fifth grade. She visited our school, and brought us all copies of the book. She signed them for us, and mine she signed, "To Emma-Wishing you unexpected treasures!" Her illustrations are done by the wonderful and talented Mary GrandPre, the same woman who did the special illustrations for Harry Potter. An absolutely beautiful book!
January 26, 2010
The illustrations, pretty with a soft palette of colours, fit well with this sweet tale of a lonely young lightkeeper's daughter whose life changes when a sea chest is washed on the shore of her island after a devastating storm.
January 17, 2021
Beautiful. Sad.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2012
The Sea Chest was about a grandmother who was telling her about something that happened to her when she was a little girl, 80 years ago. She had lived as an only child on an island and her only wish was to have another child on the island. One day there was a huge storm, and when her and her father went exploring afterward, they found a chest sitting on a rock. When they opened it up, there was a baby girl inside who they took in as their own daughter. Now the grandmother had a sister and was not an only child. I though this book was cute but I don't think it would thrill a classroom of students too much. It wasn't highly exciting or anything. The pictures were very well done though and each page was framed in a sandy color. This is more of a little girl's book; probably one I would have read in elementary school.
October 7, 2013
Toni Buzzeo's The Sea Chest is a heart touching story about an aunt and her great grandniece, Aunt Maita tells her great grandniece about when she was younger and lived next to the sea where her dad worked in a lighthouse. One night a terrible storm came, and Maita and her father went down onto the rocks the next morning after the storm to collect sea glass for her jar. But instead they find a leather sea chest, in which they find a baby inside, Maita named her Seabourne and took her home with them. Maita and Seabourne became close and Maita taught her how to do many things like probe for eggs. As they grew older the separated and married, then Maita told her great grandniece that she had to bury her sister. I felt like it was a very heart warming story about an only child becoming a sister, and how that touched her. Mary Granpre's illustrations are spectacular and very clear.
September 29, 2011
The Sea Chest is an uplifting book with a great story behind the book as well. This story is about a chest that has survived a ship wreck. A family finds this chest only to come across a little baby in their with a note attached to her wrist, to then become a part of the family.
The watercolor illustrations create the movement that guides the reader's eyes all over the page. The color choices that are used in the illustration bring a sense of being dated or old. There are worn edges to enhance that as well. The text is in almost a poetry format, so at some points it was confusing (nothing a little re-reading with visual cues to help out with that).
Beautiful book and a touching story at book. Definitely a great one for the classroom library.
The watercolor illustrations create the movement that guides the reader's eyes all over the page. The color choices that are used in the illustration bring a sense of being dated or old. There are worn edges to enhance that as well. The text is in almost a poetry format, so at some points it was confusing (nothing a little re-reading with visual cues to help out with that).
Beautiful book and a touching story at book. Definitely a great one for the classroom library.
November 2, 2011
This book is unique because the story is told in a poetic form. I liked the rhythm it provides, but I felt like it became kind of confusing. I think some children would struggle reading parts of this story because they'd be too worried about making sense of the text. I definitely would recommend reading this aloud to children, especially to those who are struggling readers, rather than have them read it to themselves.
The story itself was good though. I really liked how it was based on a legend told in Maine. It would be a good story to read to kids who are expecting a younger sibling to arrive soon, especially if the sibling is being adopted.
The story itself was good though. I really liked how it was based on a legend told in Maine. It would be a good story to read to kids who are expecting a younger sibling to arrive soon, especially if the sibling is being adopted.
January 23, 2015
I liked this story...told by an aging Aunt Maita as she remembers back to her childhood and tells it to her niece who is waiting now for the sister or brother that Maita longed for as a child.
Its based on a legend from Hendricks Head Lighthouse in Maine, a legend that took place in the 1870's. I thought it was very interesting and did a little research on it after we read the book. My daughter (6) enjoyed it but I don't think she found it quite as interesting as I did. However, she stayed with me the whole time and listened and looked at the pictures.
It was a nice story, beautifully illustrated and a little bit sad due to the shipwreck trajedy.
Its based on a legend from Hendricks Head Lighthouse in Maine, a legend that took place in the 1870's. I thought it was very interesting and did a little research on it after we read the book. My daughter (6) enjoyed it but I don't think she found it quite as interesting as I did. However, she stayed with me the whole time and listened and looked at the pictures.
It was a nice story, beautifully illustrated and a little bit sad due to the shipwreck trajedy.
December 26, 2014
This book got a little Great Aunt talking about this little girls great grandmother talking about the past. I was engrossed. I really liked the pictures...I wanted to give it a 4 star but, when I found out the story is fiction...I got sad. It is a really lovely story. In the back on the author's note, it does talk about a historical record that is similar to the book but there is no written documented accounts...so it is either a nice story or TRUE! In my head, I am going with true because it makes me happy!
Read
September 8, 2018A beautiful story that explains adoption without hitting the child over the head with the concept like many other books do. The narrative style allows the reader to embrace the idea, and not walk away saying.
Get more of our review here. While you’re there, add a link to your review of the book.
Get more of our review here. While you’re there, add a link to your review of the book.
March 12, 2009
Graeat-great-aunt shares the story of how her younger sister joined the family. Aunt was the daughter of a lighthouse keeper. The morning after a ferocious storm she and her father explore the beach and find a trunk with a sea captain's baby inside. The child is adopted by the lighthouse keeper and his wife. Book is based on local legend.
April 25, 2016
This is a very intriguing story. I mainly picked it up because of the front cover. Mary GrandPre' is a wonderful illustrator!
I realize the author is saying this is a tale that has come down through the ages, but it is pretty unrealistic in my opinion. It is still intriguing and kept me reading to find out what happens, though.
I realize the author is saying this is a tale that has come down through the ages, but it is pretty unrealistic in my opinion. It is still intriguing and kept me reading to find out what happens, though.
August 23, 2016
This stirring tale told in free-form poetry is a deceptively simple yet moving tale about a baby rescued from the sea. The lovely oil illustrations of Ms. Grandpré lend their quiet dignity to this tale of familial love that expands to take in a tiny stranger. The scenes of the ocean are particularly lovely, including wondrous sparkles that can only be seen when the sun hits the sea.
April 23, 2009
Loved the story of a lonely girl, who lives in a lighthouse with her mom and dad, who prays for a brother or sister. One day the sea sends her one in a chest. The family adopts her. Just thought it was neat to read.
February 6, 2011
I loved the legend underlying this story as well as the illustrations which supported the mood and setting so well. This could fit with "Abbie Against the Storm" by Marcia Vaughan for those interested in exploring lighthouse living.
October 29, 2018
Beautifully illustrated story of a family that lives a secluded life manning a lighthouse. One day a terrible storm brings a sea chest to their shores, the contents of which will change their lives forever.
July 19, 2011
This is a fictional story about Maita, the only daughter of a lighthouse keeper and his wife, and her solitary life, until a terrible storm brings an unexpected treasure to their little island. Inspired by a legend of a shipwreck off the coast of Maine in the 1870's. Written in verse.
May 18, 2014
So beautifully illustrated and containing so many themes I am drawn to: adoption, living by the sea, small families, traditions, heartache, beauty, mystery, self-sacrifice. And the girls (ages 5 and 3) love it, too.
Read
July 18, 2015It is a contented, but lonely life for Maita, who lives with her mother and father on a tiny island, helping her small family care for the lighthouse. One morning, after a big storm, the sea washes up a precious treasure for Maita, who's life will be changed for the better for it.
September 29, 2008
This looks paticularly good!
October 8, 2008
What a sweet, sweet tale of the sea in Maine based on a legend from 1900. The pictures are beautiful.
August 17, 2011
It was A good book . with pretty pictures!
December 17, 2010
Lyrical, poetic writing, and nice illustrations make this a very sweet story. The vocab is not exactly right for 5 to 8 year olds, but parents/caregivers can explain words like "fret" and "ponder."
June 5, 2012
A beautiful book about adoption.
June 20, 2012
when the wonderful news of getting a new sister in a treasure chest.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews