Review by Booklist Review
This fascinating nonfiction debut upends the idea that only men helmed lighthouses during their heyday by showcasing four of the many women who did this grueling, lifesaving work. The text first gives an overview on the demands of keeping a lighthouse, from cleaning the lamp and trimming wicks to making sure the light burned steadily. But the emphasis is on the perils inherent in lighthouse keeping, shown in stories of four women, spanning from 1869 to 1925, each of whom responded courageously to emergencies. We meet a woman at a lighthouse off Newport, Rhode Island, who, in 1869, rowed out to a capsized ship during a tumultuous storm and rescued drowning sailors; another woman in a San Francisco Bay lighthouse who responded to a broken foghorn during enshrouding fog in 1906 by pounding a hammer on a bell for 20 solid hours; a third woman in a lighthouse off the coast of Virginia who navigated a dangerous ice channel in 1912 to get provisions for the lighthouse she and her husband worked, finding her husband dead on her return; and, finally, a "lighthouse girl" who took over the family's lighthouse in Hawaii after a volcano erupted in 1925. The digital illustrations offer astonishing viewpoints from inside and out, putting readers right in the middle of the action. A wonderful addition to lighthouse lore.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
True tales of daring and dedication. Coronado highlights the bravery, fortitude, and persistence exhibited by four female lighthouse keepers. In 1869, Ida Lewis rowed out and rescued two sailors when their boat capsized in Rhode Island's Newport Harbor. Juliet Nichols sounded a bell for hours to warn of fog in San Francisco Bay in 1906. In 1912, with low temperatures and icy waters cutting her and her husband's lighthouse off from the mainland, "Aunt" Venus Parker rowed off to Chincoteague, Virginia, in search of supplies. And in 1925, Julia Toomey, a young native Hawaiian, helped keep the light burning at Oahu's Makapu'u Point after her lighthouse keeper father's death. The stories of these four intrepid heroes are exciting and well told in lively, smartly paced, and casually rhyming prose. The last few pages meaningfully expand the book's reach, helping readers connect these exciting stories to their own lives as they face challenges and encouraging them to embrace both the big and the small moments of life. Thorough backmatter offers more context, with a page devoted to Julia Toomey. Dramatic, deep-toned artwork is a perfect match for the text, combining the stylized and the realistic and grabbing readers' attention with unusual compositions in precisely detailed but sweeping graphic spreads. Inspiring episodes from the lives of four admirable women. (author's note, selected bibliography, quotation sources, photographs)(Informational picture book. 5-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
