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Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Boy Who Loved Boxes: A Children's Book for Adults by Michael Albanese (view source)
Revision as of 13:40, 26 January 2022
, 13:40, 26 January 2022no edit summary
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=A delightful book for all those of us who have struggled through the last two years. A book to treasure and reread.|rating=4.5|buy=Yes|borrow=Yes
|pages=36
|publisher=The Weight of Ink
|aznus=1732898731
}}
There was a Boy who loved boxes. He had a box for everything and he was meticulous about storage: his parents probably couldn't believe their luck! It began with art supplies, stuffed toys and the like: all the things which most children have in abundance. The Boy's delight was in the sense of order in his room: it made him feel happy. As he grew up and became a Man, his life became more complicated and he dealt with this by getting bigger and better boxes. Look carefully at the pictures and you'll see that one of them has a padlock... You might think that is the sign of someone being careful - until you discover what The Man was putting in the boxes. They were where he kept his relationships, his faith, his emotions, his money and his work. They were all kept separately in strong, neatly-labelled boxes which he stacked on purpose-built shelves. Looking at the boxes gave him a sense of control. Then something happened. It happened to us all: the pandemic, Covid-19, coronavirus... Call it what you will but what it spelt was the end of all our certainties. Order was no longer possible. Wewere all living day-to-day in the best way that we could. The Man's boxes fell apart: some of the contents were missing and others were broken. The Man realised that the boxes did not work for him anymore and he felt helpless. He tried buying bigger and better boxes but this wasn't a problem that money could solve. Then he tried to build a better box - he was strong and capable - but that didn't work either. This wasn't a situation where strength and ability were going to win through. Then one day, something happened to The Man and it happened ''inside'' him. He found his solution, his box, and with it, he found a sense of purpose. Most importantly, he found happiness. You'll soon re going to have to read this wonderful book to discover exactly how this came about. I've read it several times now. The first time I had a review sense of recognition - an acknowledgement that there just might have been something here that applied to me. The more times I read, the more I accepted that there are ways of this living that don't demand complete control because there are always going to be situations where that is not possible. It might not be a pandemic the next time - but there is going to be 'a next time'. The text is simple but it left me feeling uplifted. Todd Wilkerson's images take the book to a new level: they're delightful. I loved the way that they captured The Boy growing into The Man. Each page is deceptively simple but every time I read the bookI found something which I hadn't spotted before, something that left me thinking. I have a few special picture books which provoke thought: ''The Boy Who Loved Boxes'' is going to join them and I'd like to thank the publisher for letting Bookbag have a review copy. We think you'll also love [[Tidy by Emily Gravett]].
You can read more about Michael Albanese [[:Category:Michael Albanese |here]].
