Can I Rent a Lighthouse on Airbnb?

Hello Lighthouse
Written & Illustrated by Sophie Blackall
2019 Caldecott Medal Winner
Age Level: 2-7 Years
Published April 10, 2018

Seafoam green walls sound interesting. 

Some books are so special that they draw you in, take your breath away, and make the outside world disappear for as long as it takes you to go from the first page to the last. Hello Lighthouse is an astonishingly beautiful book about a lighthouse and its keeper that is utterly captivating.

“On the highest rock of a tiny island at the edge of the world stands a lighthouse.  It is built to last forever.”

The lighthouse and its keeper are solid and dependable, simple and solitary. Each day is spent tending the light, with the keeper steadfastly and meticulously polishing the lens, refilling the oil, and trimming the burnt end of the wick. Against the background of this routine, performed with such devotion that it is more like ritual, the keeper’s life takes shape. Love letters are written, shipwrecked sailors are rescued, and his child is born in one of the lighthouse’s round rooms. 

One day, a letter from the Coast Guard arrives with news of technological advances that number the family’s remaining days at the lighthouse. The keeper finishes his post with the same loving commitment, and then lets the modern machinery of the new light take over. 

We open this book and are transported to a simple life and a beautiful place, where time is marked by changing weather and a beaming light. My son traces his fingers around the spiral staircases and circular rooms, my daughter lingers over the migrating whales and swirls of the Northern Lights. Pretty and peaceful, this book is a classic that we will enjoy for years to come.