Review of Hello Lighthouse

 

Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall

Genre/Category

Hello Lighthouse is a fictional children’s picture book. The category I am reviewing for is Pre-K-6th Grade Caldecott Medal Book.

Target Age Group

Hello Lighthouse is suitable for children aged 4-8, or in Pre-K-3rd grade.

Summary

Hello Lighthouse follows the story of a lighthouse on a rock in the ocean and the new lighthouse keeper who moves in. Over time, the reader watches as the lighthouse interacts with nature and ocean creatures, and the lighthouse keeper inside grows his family and spends each day, until one day when new technology changes his role. 

Justification

Hello Lighthouse is a winner of the Caldecott Medal, and though the narrative may seem simple on the surface, it conveys the joys and hardships of life, including solitude, family, work, love, sickness, and loss.

Physical Reading Experience

Like so many other picture books, this title benefits from an in-person, physical reading. Picture books are often quite large and require two hands, making them useful for Storytimes. Hello Lighthouse contains bright, multicolored illustrations that are best seen in person in the large format of the physical book. Additionally, it contains fold-out pages to view the entire events of a scene, making for a tactile and immersive experience as well.  

Evaluation

I have chosen to evaluate the illustrations, point of view, and themes of Hello Lighthouse.

Illustrations

The illustrations of Hello Lighthouse are fittingly nautical and multi-textured. The colors are vibrant, the lighthouse’s beam is bright yellow, and the waves bring a sense of motion to the narrative. The illustrations help immerse the reader into the lives of the characters as well as provide a bit of context for how the protagonist and his family may feel living in the lighthouse. The illustrations never stray too far from having the lighthouse in frame, symbolizing how the characters remain in place as well. When it is foggy, the fog covers everything visible on the page as the characters would see it. Despite these visual cues of the character’s feelings, the reader is also an outsider looking in, viewing the events unfold for the lighthouse keeper and his family as time moves forward for them, as will be discussed further in the following paragraph.

Point of View

The point of view of the illustrations dictates the way the reader interacts with the story. In almost every illustration, the characters and events happening inside, around, and outside of the lighthouse are shown from the outside in. For example, if the characters are outside, the reader views them from afar, viewing the lighthouse. If the characters are inside, they are shown through a circle porthole design, as if we are looking at them inside the lighthouse, either welcome or not. This point of view is important and adds to the themes of the story to be discussed further. We, as readers, are outsiders, watching the events of these characters’ lives, and the life of the lighthouse unfold with time. We witness the wife join the lighthouse keeper, his sickness, the birth of their daughter, etc. It is only until the final page of the book that we, the reader, are let inside the home of the family. However, their backs are turned to us, signaling the end of their journey as we need to see it. 

Themes

As mentioned previously, the point of view that places the reader as an outsider looking in is thematically important. Though this is a relatively short picture book, the events cover years. Being constrained to a lighthouse, the view can be somewhat limited, as the porthole illustrations portray, but the events of life do not stop. There is still sickness, joy, love, birth, slow moments, and fast moments. These themes are echoed by the nature outside the lighthouse as well. Sometimes waves are slow and calm, other times they are loud and wild. However, the lighthouse is symbolic that some things do stay the same after so much time has passed. Hello Lighthouse teaches readers the importance of noticing and being present for the events in one’s life, because they move faster than they may seem. Even when it seems that nothing changes, things do.

Reference

Blackall, S. (2018). Hello Lighthouse. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.