Hello Lighthouse

This week I read Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall, who is also so the illustrator and 2019 Caldecott Medal winner for the illustrations in  this book. This book is about a new lighthouse keeper who comes to tend to the light. The story takes you along into the life of the keeper and what he does on the daily while he writes it all in his logbook. While in the lighthouse the keeper goes through strong wind, fog, thunderstorms and even ice who greet the light house with the words Hello! Hello! Hello! A great story for some inferencing on where in the world this lighthouse could be, as the author does not say. From looking through his telescope to pulling sailors from the sea into safety, its a wonderful story with a bittersweet ending.

At the end of the book in the About The Book section it explains that the beautiful illustrations were done in Chinese ink and watercolor on hot-press paper. The illustrator used both light and bright colors depending on the story line on each page. She used different colors and shapes to paint the sea in each picture. I believe she used some representational art throughout the book when trying to give the waves a real life feel as they crashed into the lighthouse and when painting the sea, the people and the lighthouse.

As I read this book I thought about the many things a teacher could teach when using this book as a read aloud. Story elements, sequence of events and inferencing to name a few. It's also a great book to to simply teach about lighthouses and add to students background knowledge. In the back of the book there are two pages that talk all about lighthouses.

E-book from Houston Public Library