Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall Age Recommendation: All Ages

PREMIUM FAMILY BOOK CLUB GUIDE

1 READ ALOUD Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall Age recommendation: all ages

Watch the days and seasons pass as the wind blows, the fog rolls in, and icebergs drift by. Outside, there is water all around. Inside, the daily life of a lighthouse keeper and his family unfolds as the keeper boils water for tea, lights the lamp’s wick, and writes every detail in his logbook.

This book won the 2019 Caldecott Medal.

Note: because of current widespread library closures, Little Brown Books for Young Readers has granted us permission to read aloud this book on video for you. That video is available to watch here until 6/30/20.

� Video: Sarah introduces this book to your kids, and offers ideas for what to look for while you read together.

Looking Closely

Here are a few things to consider as you look closely at the book itself.

Trim Size: The book as an object itself tells part of this story. It’s a tall, skinny book, which helps us feel what it’s like to be inside a lighthouse.

Circles: Pay attention to the circles in this book. There are circles to be found in the illustrations, in the text, and even in the structure of the story itself. Where do you notice circles as you read?

Mood: Illustrators use color and shape to help depict mood throughout a picture book. Focusing on the clouds, notice how Sophie Blackall sets the mood on each spread by varying color and shape in the cloud formations. It’s not just the object of the illustration, but everything around that object, that helps tell the story. The clouds have a lot to say in this book!

Keep this light and fun! Your goal with a shared experience is to make a warm, happy memory related to the book.

Our suggested Book Club day is June 27th (click here to set a reminder for yourself ). Of course, you can do it whenever it works best for you.

Dinner of Cod with a large pot of tea

The keeper boils water and drinks his tea, as he ﬁshes for cod from the window.

Prepare a large pot of tea and Garlic Butter Baked Cod for dinner.

Rooibos is a great tea blend for kids, because it’s naturally caffeine-free. (and it’s especially tasty with a bit of sugar and a splash of milk!)

photo and recipe from budgetbytes.com

Is there a lighthouse near you?

If you’ve got a lighthouse near you, go see it in person. Here is a list of lighthouses in the United States.

Open-Ended Questions

Use any of the following questions to spark conversations with your kids of all ages.

Remember that asking open-ended questions is more important than getting compelling answers. We want to help our kids develop the habit of asking questions as they read. This is how we raise discerning readers.

How is living in a lighthouse different than living at your house? How is it the same?

How is the lighthouse keeper like the lighthouse itself? How are they different?

What surprised you about this book?

Which word, phrase, or illustration did you especially enjoy, and why? (Asking yourself this question will help you key in to your own reading taste—something worth thinking about and nurturing!)

How is the world different at the end of the book than it is at the beginning? (In other words, why does this story matter?)

If you’d like to learn more about how to have good conversations with your kids, be sure to watch the Master Class in RAR Premium: How to Talk with Your Kids About Books.

4 MEET THE AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR

Meet Sophie Blackall in RAR Premium

Tuesday, 6/30/20 11am Paciﬁc/12pm Mountain 1pm Central/2pm Eastern

Click here for details and to RSVP

Submit questions for Sophie here by 6/28/20

After the event, you’ll ﬁnd a video replay here

Coloring Books • North American Lighthouses (Dover) • Lighthouses of the World (Dover) • Lighthouses (Dylanna Press) • Lighthouse Coloring Book (Coloring Book Cafe)

Videos: How to draw a lighthouse • Simpler version for younger kids • More complex version for older kids and teens

A few more books about lighthouses

The Lighthouse Family series (Rylant, McDaniels) Highly Recommended. Short chapter books that you can read aloud in less than an hour. Each story tells another part of Pandora and Seabold’s adventures as they build a family of their own inside an otherwise lonely lighthouse. There are 8 books in the series; the ﬁrst is The Storm. Best for ages 4-10.

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge (Swift, Ward) The story of a proud little lighthouse built on a sharp point of the shore by the Hudson River. Best for ages 3-7.

Also by Sophie Blackall:

In Finding Winnie, Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian on his way to tend horses in World War I, followed his heart and rescued a baby bear. He named her Winnie, and years later, she befriended a real boy named Christopher Robin.

This is the true story of Winnie-the-Pooh, the world’s most famous bear.

2015 Caldecott Medal