Manybooks's Reviews > Hello Lighthouse

With a wonderful and sweetly nostalgic marriage of lyrical text and glowingly imaginative but nevertheless always spectacularly realistically shining accompanying images, I have both absolutely loved and appreciated Sophie Blackall's Hello Lighthouse and am also and of course tickled absolutely proverbially pink that it has been awarded the 2019 Caldecott Medal. For Hello Lighthouse truly is an utterly sparklingly special and delightful gem, presenting first and foremost (and most importantly) what made lighthouses so historically significant and essential (and the immense pressure, as well as the often tedious but nevertheless always necessary work of the lighthouse keeper, and how in Hello Lighthouse when the lighthouse keeper suddenly falls seriously ill, his wife must then take over his job until his fever breaks, making sure the light is kept constantly shining and beaming to warn passing ships of otherwise treacherous ocean rocks and other potential threats as well as tending to her husbands needs, nursing him through his bout of what probably would have been a serious case of pneumonia).

Both nostalgic and yes indeed also imbued with more than a bit of sad regret that almost ALL lighthouses are now generally automated and that there are thus for the most part no more lighthouse keepers, Hello Lighthouse is a paean and celebration of a bygone era and in my opinion also a glorification of the magic of the ocean, of the sea (and of course also an homage to the many lighthouse keepers who not only made sure that their lights were constantly kept glowing and shining especially at night and during foggy, rainy and snowy weather conditions but who also often had to risk life and limb when there was trouble, when ships foundered and sailors needed rescuing, and yes, I do kind of sometimes have to wonder whether having modern lighthouses totally automated is really all that safe, because indeed, if there is a shipwreck near a lighthouse nowadays, there are of course generally no lighthouse keepers to spring into action and lead immediate rescue efforts).

Four shining stars for Hello Lighthouse, and the only reason I am not quite ready for five stars is that I for one would have appreciated if Sophie Blackall had put her informative author's note on lighthouses and their historical significances within the actual text proper and not on the side flaps of the dust cover, as my library book has like most such tomes the dust cover securely taped into place, and sadly, much of the author's note is therefore obscured and not really all that easily and readily legible.