Sleator has a history of including environmental themes in his works. For instance, in The Night the Heads Came (see separate entry), the villains are alien beings who love pollution and environmental degradation. Dirty air and filthy water are beautiful to them. In The Beasties (see separate entry), the environmental theme focuses on the destruction of an ancient American forest by rapacious logging companies. The Boxes represents a slight departure in how the environmental theme is handled, because it focuses not on a natural environment but on an old, historical neighborhood.

As is often the case in fiction about the destruction of homes, developers are cast in the role of villain. Annie's beautiful, somewhat rundown neighborhood is slated to be demolished and replaced by a mall. The traditional sticking point in such a fictional situation is that someone will not sell his or her home to...