The Secret-Keeper

I loved this book for many reasons. Kalli is the town secret keeper and has been told more secrets than anyone could imagine. She takes each secret, turns it into a small object and files it away in a drawer of sorrow. This is such a big burden to bear and Kalli eventually falls ill from the stress of keeping so many secrets. When the townspeople find out Kalli is sick, they decide to come together and share positive secrets with each other which helps Kalli return to health. They decide that once a year they will all come together to share their happy secrets instead of the ones that they want to hide. This book shows the negative emotional consequences of secret keeping, especially when the secrets are not your own. Being able to let show more go of negative secrets and feel more positive ones allows us to feel better. show less

Lovely, brightly colored pictures about Kalli, who keeps the bad secrets of everyone in the village, until one winter she literally becomes sick of them. The solution is to share happy secrets with her as well, including one from the man who quietly loves her. SPOILER: They get married and live happily ever after.

It makes you think about the effect you have on someone when you unburden yourself of all your troubles by dumping your secrets on them.

Beautifully illustrated folk-like tale about a woman whose job is to accept secrets from people (which turn into little objects when told) and store them in tiny drawers all over her house. She accepts sad, angry, or embarrassing secrets from nearly everyone in the village.
But what happens when the Secret Keeper is overwhelmed with the winter blues and sickness? Can they help her in return?

I had never heard of this fairy tale before, It is a sweet story of a young girl who lives in a forest and the village people come to tell her all of their secretes. They each give her something for her listening and it turns into an item that she puts in a draw. She becomes ill one day because of the burden of all of the bad secrets. The village people gather to tell her their good secrets and she becomes better. There is also one other person who tells a secret. The potter's son tells her he loves her. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is warm. There are other versions and could be used to compare and contrast different verions of a story. Grades K - 3.

Kalli, the secret keeper to the people of Maldinga, takes the burden of all their secrets and puts them in drawers. She unselfishly does this until she falls ill. One of the townspeople suggest giving Kalli some happy secrets. She gets better when she hears a secret from the potter's son who has never burdened her with a secret until now.....he loves the secret keeper. A delightful folktale.

The Secret Keeper is about a young woman who lives in the forest and keeps all of the town's secrets. The townspeople come to her and reveal secrets they would not reveal to anyone else. The Secret Keeper in turn files away the secret and the townspeople can leave knowing no one else will ever know. The Secret Keeper becomes overwhelmed by all the negative secrets she hears and becomes upset. The townspeople realize this and decide to tell her positive secrets, which cheers her up. I thought the concept of this book was an interesting one. I really enjoyed how the townspeople rallied around the Secret Keeper when she was upset and used positive secrets to cheer her up.

This surrealist work, using symbols throughout, explores the negative emotional consequences of keeping dark secrets--even those that are not your own. For younger audiences, it may simply be a story about a lonely girl who finds love and friendship. Masterfully-crafted paintings bring the world of the Secret Keeper to life.