‘Our Treasures Within’ Teaches Children to Share Their Gifts

Susan Ciancio explores a new children’s book and how it encourages children to have an impact on others. 

Our Treasures Within

By Peter and Paul Reynolds

Published by Loyola Press

Catholic authors, business owners, and twin brothers Peter and Paul Reynolds have collaborated on many projects throughout their lives. As young boys, they created and wrote their own newspaper, with Peter doing the bulk of the illustrations. As they grew, they began professionally writing and illustrating children’s books and creating short films. Together they started a company called FableVision Studios, which “designs and develops a wide array of engaging media that inspires, teaches, and moves people to action.” They later founded the Reynolds Center for Teaching, Learning and Creativity and opened a children’s bookstore called Blue Bunny. 

Peter and Paul explained that everything they do is “mission driven” and seeks to help kids realize their potential and learn how to share their gifts with others. 

Their newest endeavor aligns perfectly with this mission. 

Our Treasures Within is a new children’s book from Loyola Press that features the wisdom of Pope Francis and Peter’s and Paul’s insights and visions for how kids can impact the people around them. The book opens with Pope Francis’ words to children in 2015: 

In each one of you there is a chest, a box, and inside there’s a treasure. Your job is to open the chest and pull out the treasure, make it grow, give it to others, and receive the treasure of others.  

Peter explained that in addition to the various gifts we all have, “everybody has the gift of love in that box.” And he asked, “What do you do with gifts? You share them.”  

That is the primary lesson of this incredibly heartwarming book — to encourage children to understand their own gifts so that they can share them with others and make the world a better place. Peter explained, “That was very congruent with the way we live our lives, and Ignatian spirituality was very much a part of our formation as kids.”  

That formation came as a gift not only from their parents but from a young convert to Catholicism whom Peter and Paul met at Boy Scout camp when they were just eleven years old. John Bonowitz, OSCO, or Brother John, as they called him, began his religious vocation as a Jesuit priest and later became a monk. The three developed a lifelong friendship that lasted until Brother John’s death in early 2025. Over the years, he had a profound impact on Peter and Paul, so much so that they dedicated this book to him.  

Fostering Love for Others 

Paul explained that he understands that “it takes courage and it takes bravery to make your mark” on the world, and he hopes that this book will engender conversations between parents and children so that kids can grow in that courage and learn to look outside their own little world to see how they can bless others with their gifts. He shared that “the invitation [of the book] is to live beyond yourself.” He continued, “If you have your gifts and keep them to yourself, you’re not having an impact.”  

As parents, we want our kids to think about others, to come to realize that there are many ways that they can help people, and to understand that sharing our gifts should be one of our main missions in life. Indeed, the book of James asks, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” 

If our kids learn from a very young age that they have gifts to offer the world, they will be able to make it a better place and shine the light of Christ to others. Our Treasures Within will help foster the bravery that is required to take those gifts out of their own treasure boxes and share them with the world.  

This is truly a beautiful book that will make a great addition to all home or school libraries, as its timeless message will resonate not only with kids but adults as well, as many of us have gifts we have yet to share with the world. Paul said that if he and Peter “can help carry the torch of Pope Francis’ message and mission to kids for generations to come, that will be the crowning achievement” of their creative professional careers. 

Peter and Paul Reynolds have spent a lifetime sharing their gifts with others, and throughout the pages of Our Treasures Within, they will teach your children to do the same. 

Is this a book you'd like to read? Share your thoughts with the Catholic Mom community! You'll find the comment box below the author's bio and list of recommended articles.

Copyright 2026 Susan Ciancio
Images: Loyola Press