Hello Lighthouse
By: Sophie Blackall - American Author
Caldecott Medal for Illustrations - 2019

This picture book is a story about a new lighthouse keeper arriving to take up duties as he lives day and night in the lighthouse. During the story there are a series of snapshots of what a lighthouse keepers life is like which is a mixture of routine jobs such as tending the oil lamp, updating the logbook, trimming the candle wick, cleaning the lamp and windows along with excitement such as rescuing sailors from a shipwreck, welcoming his wife and the birth of their child. Inside the lighthouse, life rotates and expands within the lighthouse walls but the lighthouse is still constant. Outside, life also rotates as seasons change bringing the whale migrations, northern lights, angry storms, calm sunsets and sunrises, and warm days, followed by icy winters. The book ends with the family having to move out because of the invention of new machinery and automation making lighthouse keepers obsolete.

The family life inside the lighthouse is illustrated with the geometric shape of circles. The circles begin small as the lighthouse keeper moves in by himself and gradually gets bigger as his family grows with the arrival of his wife and their child. The geometry of the drawings accentuate the spiral staircase and the round rooms and rugs in the lighthouse. The details accentuate the passing of time with the circular spread showing the keepers wife pacing in a circle before giving birth to their child.

The illustrations and spreads for this book were done in Chinese ink and watercolor on hot press paper. This technique adds to the lightness and movement of images on the paper. The illustrations of the ocean match each mood and occasion using tiny watercolor waves along with big, circular dramatic waves accentuating the beauty and drama of the ever changing sea and passage of time.

In the book there are a few surprises such as a cutaway of the lighthouse showing its seven floors in detail of the light, study, bedroom, dining room, store room and entrance. There is also a gatefold in the book which uses warm colors to express warmth and calmness of the sea as the lighthouse keeper and his family move to a new house not too far from the lighthouse, conveying reassurance that they will still be near their beloved lighthouse.

The book is tall and narrow and the pages alternate between exterior and interior of the lighthouse showing the passage of time with both, however the lighthouse is always the same, tall, constant, beaming it's light out to the sea.

The seascapes take over the double page spread. The end pages form the pages of the keepers journal, scattered with objects from the sea. The back end page has information about what life was like as lighthouse keeper and how the author was inspired to write this book. While brainstorming for this book, the author studied the history of lighthouses,  and read keepers logbooks and memoirs.

The overall quality of the book with its relationship between the text and illustration is excellent. Her use of color and geometric, circular shapes along with the long, narrow book helped convey the feeling of what it might feel like to be inside or outside a real lighthouse. I enjoyed this book and I hope you will too!

The Lion & the Mouse By: Jerry Pinkney

The Lion & The Mouse By: Jerry Pikney

Jerry Pikney became the first African American to win the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in this book. The illustrations were particularly lauded for showing such realism and balance between the characters with their surroundings. This book was published in 2009 and is a nearly wordless picture book that is an adaptation of Aesop's fable of The Lion and the Mouse. In Jerry Pinkney's book, The Lion & the Mouse, he beautifully illustrates the story of a mouse's life spared by the lion. After the lion becomes captured in a hunting trap, the mouse sets the lion free. Because this book is almost wordless, and the illustrations are so beautifully presented, this book allows for many levels of readers to capture the story's message suggesting the week can help the strong and differences can be overcome thus creating a strong friendship once they each understood one another. 

Books from my Childhood

I loved books growing up! I'm an only child so I learned to entertain myself, stuffed animals, and my cat named Michael with reading books either to myself or aloud. In fact, I would get in bed at night and literally read myself to sleep. I still do that. My first favorite books were all of Richard Scarry's books such as the Busiest People Ever; Busy, Busy World and Best First Book Ever. I loved snuggling up and look at all of the pictures while connecting the words with the pictures. I would imagine what it would be like to be in a big city in a far away place like London, England as I looked at pictures in the Busy, Busy, World book. Richard Scarry's picture books taught me not only to enjoy reading and learning to spell, his books opened my eyes of far away places. Perhaps that is where I gained my sense of adventure and the love of travel. Two other books that come to my mind are The Giving Tree by Shell Silverstein and Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. Both of these books are iconic classics. I have such fond memories of my mom reading these to me and discussing how important it is to help as others as it related to both of the stories within these books. I still have my original books and have read them to my boys when they were young. I love books for so many reasons. Books bring you back to a specific place and time when you read them, they have the ability to take you to far away places and time; places that you've never been or will ever go, they give you a perspective that you wouldn't otherwise have had you not read the book. Books are keepsakes of stories which can be passed down from one generation to another just as I have passed my childhood books to my boys. Not only do I have such special memories of my mother reading to me, I now have special memories of me reading to my boys as they cuddled up on each side of me while I read aloud to them.