Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Lighthouse Family:The Storm
Illustrator: Preston McDaniels
Fiction Series
For ages 7 to 10
Simon and Schuster, 2003 ISBN: 978-0689848827
There are those in the world who choose solitary lives. There are also those who choose vocations that are solitary. Seabold the dog is one of those who chooses to be solitary, a sailor. Pandora the cat chooses to be a lighthouse keeper. For her, being someone who can save lives is terribly important even if it means that she is has to be alone all the time, even if it means that she has to feel lonely.
By chance a storm brings these two animals together and both their lives change forever. Now they have each other for companionship as Seabold heals under Pandora?s care and repairs his ship. Underneath it all, as they go about their daily chores and enjoy one another?s friendship, neither one really knows what to do next for neither one wants to go back to they way things were before.
Then Seabold and Pandora find some more survivors of a shipwreck. Just like Seabold, these survivors are in need of care, but these ones are very different in one way. These survivors are just children, mouse children.
In this extraordinary story about love and finding family, Cynthia Rylant once again shows us that she can tell a powerful story in any format that she chooses. Warm and loving hearts seeking others to share their lives with them, find solace in this delightful tale, which is made all the more evocative by the beautiful illustrations rendered by illustrator Preston McDaniels.
