In Silverbrook School, before graduating, each class buries a treasure capsule somewhere in the valley.
Inside the capsule, they place small treasures for the next class to discover. Then they draw a treasure map and choose a younger student to be the Keeper of the Map.
Last year, the graduating class chose Jojo.
“Congratulations, Jojo,” Mr. Adler said, handing him the rolled-up map.
“We’re trusting you to keep it safe until treasure hunt day.”
Jojo held the map carefully in his hands.
He felt tall inside.
“I’ll keep it safe,” he promised.
At first, Jojo kept the map on his desk where he could see it.
But then he worried something might spill on it, so he tucked it safely inside a drawer.
Every now and then, he took it out to admire the little drawings along the path.
He imagined walking through Silverbrook Valley, finding the place marked with an X, and digging up the treasure.
Then he would carefully put the map away again, waiting for the big day.
At last, the big day arrived.
At school, the class buzzed with excitement.
After school, they would grab their snacks and digging tools, tuck them into their backpacks, and set off to search for the treasure.
When school was finally over, Jojo ran home to get ready.
This was the day he had been waiting for.
The day he would finally fulfil his role as Keeper of the Map.
Jojo opened the top drawer of his desk and reached inside.
The map wasn’t there.
He pulled out the drawer and emptied everything onto the floor. Nothing. One by one, he checked the other drawers. Still nothing.
Jojo felt his chest grow tight.
“I always lose things,” he muttered.
“What am I going to tell everyone?”
After a while, Jojo went looking for Livy and Fifi.
He found them sitting by the river at their usual meeting place.
“I can’t find the map,” he said.
“I was supposed to keep it safe.”
Fifi looked at him.
“But you always kept it in your room.”
“I know,” Jojo said.
“I looked everywhere. It isn’t there.”
Livy stood up.
“Then let’s go and look together.”
They hurried to Jojo’s room.
“What happened here?” Livy asked.
The drawers and everything that had been inside them were scattered across the floor.
“The map was supposed to be in one of the drawers,” Jojo said.
“I emptied everything looking for it.”
Fifi slid the drawers back into the desk.
“Let’s put everything back first,” she said.
“It’ll be easier to see.”
They put everything back, but they didn’t find the map.
“Do you remember taking it anywhere else?” Livy asked.
Jojo sat down on the end of his bed and closed his eyes.
He remembered pretending to be a pirate and unrolling the map across his bedroom floor.
Then he hid it somewhere...
But where?
Jojo opened his eyes and sighed.
“I can’t remember.”
He buried his face in his hands.
“You can go and tell the class,” he said.
“I’m too embarrassed to face them. They’ll be so disappointed.”
Livy and Fifi sat beside him on the bed.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
“We’re not going without you,” Livy said.
Fifi nodded.
“We’ll face this together.”
“Even without the map, we can still look for the capsule. And if we need help, maybe someone from the older class will give us a few hints.”
Jojo took a long breath and stood up.
“You’re right,” he said.
“I was responsible for the map, and I need to tell everyone what happened. Then we’ll see how we can find the capsule.”
Jojo picked up his backpack and headed for the door.
Suddenly, he stopped.
He looked around his room, and his eyes grew wide.
“Wait...”
“When I was pretending to be a pirate...”
“I hid the map!”
He hurried to the side of his bed and reached between the mattress and the wall.
“Hurray!” Jojo shouted as he pulled out the map.
“I remember now!”
“I hid it behind my bed so nobody could steal my treasure.”
Jojo laughed and gave his forehead a gentle tap.
“How could I forget?”
He rolled up the map and slipped it into his backpack.
“Ready,” he said.
He looked at his friends.
“Thanks for helping me calm down enough to remember.”
They ran to meet their classmates, who were waiting by the path.
“Let the treasure hunt begin!” Jojo said.
Together, they set off into Silverbrook Valley.
Jojo held the map while Livy walked beside him, checking the drawings.
Fifi skipped ahead, looking for landmarks.
“Count ten steps from the bridge,” Livy read.
They counted together.
“One... two... three...”
When they reached ten, Jojo stopped.
The map showed a tall tree with a bend in its trunk.
Fifi pointed.
“There!”
“Now five steps toward the big rock,” Jojo said.
They counted again.
Jojo looked at the map one last time.
“There’s the X,” he said.
They took turns digging.
Suddenly—
Thunk.
They found something peeking through the soil.
It was the treasure capsule.
Back in the classroom, they opened the capsule together.
Fifi reached in first and pulled out a rolled piece of paper tied with a blue string.
“It’s a drawing of the school playground,” she said.
Livy lifted a smooth stone with a tiny star painted on it.
“For good luck on hard days,” she read.
Jojo picked up a small wooden token carved with the year.
Every treasure had a story to tell.
Some had kind words and encouragement.
Others were silly and fun.
Jojo smiled.
“I wonder what we’ll leave for next year’s class,” he said.
Everyone started sharing ideas at once.
The next treasure hunt had already begun.
The End
This story is part of the Silverbrook Valley collection
For younger children, explore the Feathernest Woods collection
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What a sweet story, Debbie! 💛 I love this idea of passing along kindness and memories to the next class. Such a beautiful tradition.
Oof, that moment of not finding the thing you are responsible for. 😩 I really enjoyed this story. It makes me think “I hope my children will have good friends like JoJo does.”