Lighthouse: A Story Of Remembrance
Grade 1-3-Echoing the sentimentality of his Love You Forever (Firefly, 1986), Munsch tells the story of a girl, her father, and the memories they share of a beloved relative. Sarah awakens her father in the middle of the night to visit a nearby lighthouse, a tradition begun by her grandfather. They dress quietly and travel through deserted streets, all the while talking about Grandpa. When they find the door to the lighthouse unlocked, they climb to the top. The girl yells "Grandpa!" into the night sky; her father poignantly replies that her grandfather is not going to answer. She tosses a flower that she had saved from his funeral into the ocean, and vows to someday come back again with her own child. Wilson's richly colored and textured oil-on-canvas illustrations capture the somber mood as well as the warmth of the father-daughter relationship. However, while fog is described and depicted numerous times, the stars twinkle brightly in the lighthouse scenes. Still, young readers will be comforted by the characters' matter-of-factness in confronting death and take strength from the promised continuity of a family tradition.Mary Ann Carcich, Hampton Bays Public Library, NYCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.