The Lighthouse Family Series by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Preston McDaniels, 57pp RL 1.5

-



The Lighthouse Family series of books was among the first that I reviewed when I started my blog in August of 2008.  As much as I loved the books, I reviewed them a bit reluctantly because they weren't all in paperback at the time and it seemed as though they might go out of print, even though Cynthia Rylant (Henry and Mudge, Mr Putter and Tabby, Missing May)is the winner of multiple Newbery and Caldecott awards and honors.  However, I was THRILLED to see a copy of The Eagle show up on my cart of books to be shelved the other day and, after a quick check to make sure the series is still all in print and in paperback, I decided to re-post the review.




Cynthia Rylant's experience and skill show in her series The Lighthouse Family Series. Despite being only 57 pages, a good number of which have illustrations, often full page, Rylant creates a detailed world, rich with images and vocabulary that is also gentle and slow paced. While these books all have exciting events in them, the suspense level is low and the quiet care and concern that the parental figures in the story provide is cozy and complete. Preston McDaniels' warm, cloud-like illustrations enrich the writing wonderfully. The Lighthouse Family series and the Catwings Quartet by Ursula le Guin make up two of the most imaginative, well written, beautifully illustrated sets of books written at this reading level (which is high first grade) that I have encountered.

The Lighthouse Family is made up of Pandora, the lighthouse cat, Seabold, a sheep dog who washed ashore, and three orphaned mice children named Whistler, Lila and Baby Tiny and each book centers around a different creature that the family interacts with. These names may be difficult for some readers, as will some of the vocabulary (biscuit, tentacle, practicing, assumed) but it is writing like this that can stretch a reader's ability and imagination. And the writing is beautiful. At the start of the book The Octopus, the family is out in the garden where Whistler is making a bean trellis in the shape of a cat, which "delights Pandora." Baby Tiny is finally big enough to play in the garden, however, worried that a strong gust of wind might blow him away, Seabold ties him to the clothesline. Lila is making beetle houses out of piles of rocks and Pandora gathers herbs, walking through her garden with "an apron of mint."

These books are a delight to read out loud and, with their gentle themes, make for perfect bedtime stories. Despite the reading level I gave the books, I think The Lighthouse Family series might be a struggle for a child who is not reading at a solid second grade reading level.  And, I would hate to think of a young reader missing out on the beauty of the language and plot in these books while struggling with the vocabulary.  I hope you will seek out these books to read to your children or for them to read on their own.




Popular posts from this blog

Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala

-
Image
Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala Review Copy from Abrams Kids I picture-walked Be a Tree! three times before I actually read the words. Felicita Sala's illustrations for Maria Gianferrari's poetic text are mesmerizingly immersive and richly colorful within a palette of earth tones. Throughout the text, Gianferrari, who shares her inspiration for this book in the author's note ( Peter Wohleben's The Hidden Life of Trees ), gently maintains the human connection to trees and the connections (and communications) trees share with each other.  Be a Tree!  begins exuberantly, inviting the reader to "Be a tree! Stand tall. Stretch your branches to the sun. Let your roots curl, coil in the soil to ground you." From your spine/trunk to your skin/bark and your heart/pith, the words carry you inward and then zoom outward and up to the canopy and ultimately, the forest. "You are one of many trees," and our roots "twine with fung
Read more

Under Earth, Under Water by Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel Mizieliński, 112 pp, RL: ALL AGES

-
Image
Under Earth , Under Water by Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel  Mizieliński is their fourth book I have reviewed here and their fourth book with the marvelous Big Picture Press , a publisher of oversized, highly illustrated, gorgeous books who believe that books should be "visually intelligent, surprising, and accessible to readers of all ages, abilities and nationalities." BPP definitely achieves this with every book they publish and, if you are a book lover, you will want to seek out all their titles. Under Earth , Under Water will appeal to anyone who likes to look inside things and understand how things work. With Under Earth, Under Water , the Mizielińskis, who have an illustration style that is filled with tiny details and a unique palette, take readers on a detailed journey, from the top of the page to the bottom, over and under land and then sea. The endpapers serve as the introduction and table of contents, with images scattered across the spread, page nu
Read more

Reading Levels: A Quick Guide to Determining if a Book Is Right for Your Reader

-
Image
While I wrote an article titled Reading Levels: How I Assign Reading Levels to Books, How the Publishers Do It and How You Can Help Your Reader Find the Right Book at the Right Time that discusses how reading levels are determined by professionals and amateurs like myself, there is more on this subject to discuss. Determining the reading level of a book from the children's section is never easy, mostly because there are several different standardized methods of determining reading levels. Add to this the fact that knowing their children's reading level is most often the only tool a parent is armed with when exploring the bookstore, library, website, etc, and the job becomes even more difficult. While I think that knowing a child's reading level is a very valuable tool if your child is reading below grade level, I think that it is a secondary consideration when finding books for children reading above, especially well above, grade level because, in most cases, content app
Read more