The Lighthouse Keeper

PreS-Gr 2–Lyrical text beckons readers into this story about a lighthouse keeper. For those traveling at sea, the lighthouse keeper plays an important role in guiding them on their way, helping them to avoid a catastrophic fate out on the dark waters. Providing safety and a guiding light, the lighthouse keeper also keeps track of the moon, who watches him from above as they share one another’s company. Illustrations created with vivid colors that pop on a dark background—especially pinks and yellows—depict the lighthouse keeper with hair and beard made of fish, the lighthouse tall and bright in the dark, as well as the ­despair and the perilous fate that seems to befall some at sea. Each highly graphic, modern-looking spread has short, rhyming sentences that state facts, but in a laudatory, anthemlike way.