Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall

 

              Hello Lighthouse is a Caldecott Award winning picture book written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall. It tells the story of a lighthouse’s last keeper. The book shows his day-to-day job and the different tasks he does to keep the light going for boats out at sea. As time progresses, the lighthouse keeper starts a family of his own and faces challenges as the technology of lighthouses evolves.

              I found this book on the official list of Caldecott Award winning books. I’ve always admired the artwork of Sophie Blackall, and I didn’t know that she’d authored a book, so I definitely wanted to give this one a try. The story was sweet and her artwork was beautiful as always.

              Blackall creates depth in her illustrations with the details of the ocean. It feels like the waves are jumping off the page during one part when there is a bad storm. In another part, Blackall gives the reader an overhead shot of the lighthouse and ocean that surrounds it as the keeper and his family leave for the last time. It’s evident that she studied images in oceans in order to create her own. I also thought the illustrations had almost a vintage feel to them.

              The bookmaking of Hello Lighthouse is clever. The book is long and skinny, like an actual lighthouse. I found that this helped the illustrations of the lighthouse because the shape matched the image. I thought this was a nice touch that added new meaning to the pictures. This care to bookmaking did not go unnoticed by me.

              The plot of this story is a little slow and uneventful. To be honest, I don’t think it would be very interesting to children. It mainly talks about the keeper’s job, the trials he must face to keep the lighthouse running, and then his eventual departure due to new technology that keeps the lighthouse running without supervision. This may be interesting to people who are older, but I can’t see kids being very interested in this. It does introduce them to an old career that they may have not been familiar with before.

              My favorite parts of this book were the beautiful illustrations and the opportunity to learn about an old career that isn’t really around anymore. It’s evident that Blackall did some research for this book. I give this book four out of five stars.

Blackall, S. (2018, April 10). Hello Lighthouse (Illustrated). Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.