Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Summary: A man arrives at a lighthouse to take his new job as its keeper. A cutaway illustration shows him busy, tending the light, painting the walls, and cooking food. Despite his activity, he’s lonely, and often writes messages that he puts in bottles and tosses into the sea. After awhile, a tender arrives, bringing supplies and the man’s wife. They are happy together in the lighthouse, and eventually they’re joined by a third person, their new daughter. Several years later, electricity comes to the lighthouse, and the family moves away. A fold-out final page shows a little house on the coast, lights from its windows shining to meet the light coming from their old lighthouse home. Includes additional information about lighthouses and the people who kept them going. 48 pages; ages 4-10.
Pros: A lovely blend of fact and fiction, Caldecott winner Sophie Blackall makes life in a lighthouse seem indescribably cozy, while presenting each scene creatively (I especially admired the lighthouse cutaway, the shipwreck, and the circular images of the wife in labor). Hello, my new favorite picture book of 2018!
Cons: I suspect real life in a lighthouse was not this idyllic. This sentence in the author’s note about foghorns particularly caught my attention: “Some lighthouse keepers learned to sleep through the din of the horn; others nearly went mad when the fog lasted for days.”
